Two years ago I moved away from my childhood home. I didn't just do the whole one-hour-away-from-home thing. I packed my whole room up (eight hours before my flight...oops) and moved from Southern California to Texas. It has been and will always be one of the best decisions I have ever made. Every other day I get asked why I left "Cali" because it's "so perfect," so here's why.

I was 17 when I went to college. All my friends knew exactly what they wanted to do and were going to bigger universities. I, however, struggled just to graduate from high school. So, I didn't exactly know what I wanted to do in life. So, I slacked in my classes. A lot. Enough to put me on academic probation at my junior college. It was going to take me over a year, if not longer, to be able to get the right amount of credits with a decent GPA to transfer to a state college in California.

But ultimately the reason is this: I needed a change. I've lived in Southern California my entire life. I wasn't happy where I was or with the junior college I was going to so I needed to get out. I love So Cal, don't get me wrong but it's kind of like what Mr. Feeny said about the flower in the pot thing. You need to be put into a bigger world for you to grow. I didn't feel like I was growing still living under my parents roof. I started searching the internet. I knew if I was going to go anywhere out of state it would be Texas. I googled "best mass media program in Texas" and sure enough Sam Houston popped up. I compared it to other schools in the state and it seemed like the perfect fit. I applied, got accepted, and moved to the biggest state in the United States all within the matter of 60 days.

Not just going away, but going out of the state for college has been such an amazing experience that I think everyone should do. I got to come someplace completely new, completely different from what I grew up around, and got to grow so much more than I thought I ever could. Why I didn't think about it sooner, I have no clue, but timing is everything and I was meant to come here at this time because I have met some of the greatest friends I will ever have here.