Alright, alright, alright.

I am sure you could already tell by this headline that we are in for the sappiest of all articles.

Look, people, I really am a fan of my school.

Personally, I am not the most school spirited person to ever walk Lopes Way and I can count the number of basketball games I have attended on one hand (PLEASE DON'T HURT ME, I PROMISE I WILL GO TO MORE THIS YEAR, OK).

However, everyone in my life knows that Grand Canyon University was nearing the bottom of my list of "schools to attend."

I didn't end up here by my own doing.

I didn't think I would actually really love it here.

I really didn't expect to meet people that actually made me feel seen, loved, and heard for the first time in my life.

I really didn't expect to find people that would point me to Christ time after time.

I really didn't expect to fall in love with a place that is 30 degrees hotter than most of the country.

College is a crazy time of transition.

It's a time of learning more about who you are.

It's a time of learning what you are really passionate about.

It's a time of leaning into those around you and a time of being away from your family for the first time ever.

You learn everything from how to avoid setting off fire alarms when you burn popcorn for the 87th time to how to write a thousand word paper in 3 hours.

Yet, the most important thing you learn is that we are all just trying to find our way. You learn that your major might change 6 times, but your friends you meet here are going to stick around for the long run.

Going from somewhere hot to somewhere even hotter was NOT something I wanted to do (I don't think anyone really knows how much I hated the heat), YET, somehow even that has grown on me (WHO AM I?)

The point is, if you haven't found "your people" yet, they are out there and they do exist.

Sometimes these are friendships that require hard work and long distances when you aren't on campus.

Sometimes these friendships require even more work after you walk the stage at graduation (I could imagine at least).

I am grateful that GCU was the place where I found some grand people that just so happened to live right down the hall.

This is the place that taught me who my people are at home too because HOLY MOLY friendships that stand a distance are the ones that you KNOW will last.

This is the place that stretched me far out of my comfort zone, caused me to wait in endless Chick-Fil-A lines, and led me to a community of human beings that changed my life.

This might be the most sappy article I have yet to write, but I'm grateful to call this place home for now.