One of the first big decisions you make as a young adult in high school is where you want to attend college. Do you go super far away? Do you stay close to your hometown? Do you stay in your hometown? There are so many questions and hard decisions when it comes to college.

My hometown is a popular college town. In high school, most people complain and complain about how much they hate it there and can't wait to get it out. Those same people seem to forget about their years of complaining and end up going to the major university that's in our hometown. I knew I wasn't going to be one of those people.

There were also people who did try to leave our hometown that would go off to another school for a year then eventually transfer back to our hometown. I knew I didn't want to be like those people. I was ready to get out, see the world, and never come back.

Was I completely terrified to leave everyone I ever knew and go somewhere else? Yes, I absolutely was. Was I ready to leave my hometown and never look back? Of course, I was.

At the end of the day, I was so happy I left my hometown. Leaving it definitely made me appreciate way more when I get to go back. I get to appreciate the different local restaurants that I grew up loving.

I get to appreciate all the places I would go to hang out way more when I am back. I even get to appreciate the times I get to spend with my friends from my hometown while I am visiting. I think if I would have stayed then I wouldn't have appreciated these people and places like I do now.

Leaving my hometown with all my family and friends was a huge learning and growing experience for me. I was forced to be way more independent of everything. I had to make my own decisions with no help of my parents be there to guide me even though they were just a phone call away.

I had to be more social than I normally was since I had about one friend from my hometown going to where I was. Now, I literally have no idea what my life was like before I met all of the people in college who would later become my best and closest friends.

College definitely changed me as a person. I don't think I'm the same person I was when I was just a kid who had never really lived anywhere else but my hometown.

I would probably still be that same person I was my whole life if I would have stayed in my hometown for college. Leaving my hometown may have been hard at first but now I have no regrets and I don't know what I would have done if I didn't. Thank you for everything hometown, I appreciate you.