For some, May 1st is a day of dread, announcing to the world that you're going to college, but internally not being thrilled with your choice. For others, it's the beginning of what's to come for the next four years.
I always knew I was going to go away for college and I never thought otherwise, but it was surreal applying to colleges. I felt like I wasn't old enough to go through this process. I knew what I wanted, but at the same time I had no idea. I applied to 11 schools and was welcomed into the class of 2017 at nine of those schools. Life has a funny way of working out, because the school I decided to go to originally never crossed my mind.
I visited UD during Labor Day weekend going into my senior year of high school. It was hot outside and I didn't want to walk around a school without a tour, let alone a school that I had no interest in. I don't even think I spent more than an hour here before we got back in the car and continued our drive to get away for the long week. For my mom, Delaware seemed like a great option. It was big, but not too big and close to home, but not too close. Reluctantly, I applied, and then soon after I realized that the version of my long essay that the Common App requires was the wrong one, I submitted a draft and not my final one. I didn't really care though, because again, I had zero intentions on coming here.
I took my first official tour of University of Delaware on a gross rainy day. It seems to rain every Tuesday here, so I'm wondering if that's when I came. On the grossest of days, I stood under my umbrella on the steps of Memorial Hall looking out onto The Green. My tour guide was busy talking about chicken nuggets and I tuned her out. Even in the rain, it was beautiful. In that moment something clicked. I had been so indecisive in my whole college decision process, but something hit me. Even though the next day I was going to look at another college that I had gotten into, I now know that is when I made my decision.
In a month from now, I will have finished my junior year at UD. Everyone says that these four years go by at the blink of an eye. It baffles me that I made my decision three years ago. In some regards it feels like I've been here forever, but it also scares the crap out of me that I only have one more year at the place I call home. On May 1, 2013 it was a set decision that I was going to be spending the next four years in Newark, Delaware. Little did I know, that would be the best decision I ever made.
