There is nothing like Chapel Hill in the late hours of a warm night. The quiet hum of the cicadas and the silent serenity of an old campus going to sleep once more after another day of excitement. There is something about the way the buildings are lit and the way the Old Well seems to glisten in the moonlight that makes me realize why it is called the "southern part of Heaven," something that makes me want to hum, "Carolina in My Mind."

I was hesitant to call Carolina my home. Anyone who knew me in high school knew a girl who would have done anything to get into Georgetown University. When I was put on the waitlist there, it truly felt like the end of the world. As melodramatic and foolish as it sounds, it was the first time I ever felt real heartbreak. Rejection from a university is not supposed to hurt that much, but I could only think that I had slaved away all throughout high school for no reason.

I was proud to get into UNC out of state, but originally that was it. I never expected to find myself visiting it in the spring of 2016, just five days after we lost the National Championship (rip). At that point, I didn't care enough about basketball to even know that such an atrocity had just occurred. I decided to take a chance on Carolina, and on my school's college commitment day, I wore a much lighter shade of blue than I had planned to.

Two years later, I cried in the car as I watched Franklin Street fade in my rearview mirror. Chapel Hill has become a home to me in more ways than one. I never expected to meet so many amazing people and foster so many important important relationships. I didn't expect to find out what I wanted to do, and more importantly, myself so far away from where I grew up, but I did.

Leaving Carolina this time around was hard for me for many reasons, but the biggest one is that I am not coming back in the near future. My decision to study abroad in Germany during the fall semester will not only fulfill my dream of living in Europe, but I know it will also improve my education and make me a well-informed and well-rounded global citizen. But still, it is hard to leave home, as silly as it seems to lament missed football games and Halloweens when I am going to be traveling the world.

And so, I have found myself cherishing the little things, like the lone sound of the bell tower at night when everyone should be asleep but no one is, and the way the quad looks early in the morning when it is still sprinkled with dew. And so I realize that I am extremely fortunate to be leaving a place that I can't wait to get back to.

Farewell for now, Carolina, but I will be seeing you in my mind.