Over this summer I have learned a lot. I've learned things that you can't learn in a classroom that truly have changed my outlook on love and on life. Yes I am only 19, but sometimes experience amounts to more than age does.

The first lesson that I learned this summer is that nothing comes easy. Nothing. I have been working as many hours as I can this summer because I have to pay for my own room. It's so expensive and I spent so much time last semester thinking about how I am going to pay for my sophomore year. I love my school and all of the opportunities that I have because I left for school.

I also learned that it is possible for you to have more than one place that feels like home. When I am there I love Radford and the sense of community that I get. It really does feel like a home — I guess when you spend most of the year there, you are going to get that feeling. However, by being home this summer I was able to make friends that I will cherish for the rest of my life. These people are going to make leaving so much more difficult, but make returning home for breaks so much better.

This summer I fell in love for the first time and yes, I got my heart broken. I learned that it's okay to let yourself feel hurt because of it. It doesn't make you weak to let people see who you truly are and how you are feeling. If anything it makes you look stronger because you are not trying to hide what makes you human — emotions. Don't try to hide who you really are because you think it will make you look better to other people. I have been guilty of this in the past. I wish I could say that I am completely over what happened but honestly I don't know if I am.

Lastly, I learned that family is so important — even if you weren't originally close to your family before college started. I realized that when I was home with my family when I was in high school I took it for granted. The support, the love and the sense of security. We all want to make our life better and get our dream career, but in the end it is about the people's lives that we touch and the impact that we make on the world.

No matter how old you are, remember that you don't have to have your life figured out completely. Most likely you are going to change your mind a million times about the things that you want in your life or what you want to major in and that's completely okay. We all grow and mature at different paces and there is no "right" way or time to do that.