In January of 2017, I had accomplished something that I never thought would happen, due to the fact I had trouble consistently staying in school since 2009. In the Fall of 2016, I got my Associate of Arts Degree in English, and the spring of 2017 marked the first time I attended a four year university.

I remember being unaware until the day before the spring semester deadline that the university I wanted to get into and the university I saw as a last resort were accepting spring semester transfer students. I applied online but did not expect to get accepted.

Then I got the acceptance letters from San Francisco State and CSU Fresno. Since I had lived in Fresno since I was 10, I wanted to get experience in San Francisco, one of my favorite cities. However, due to economic reasons, I decided to attend CSU Fresno, which was my last resort.

I used to tell myself before transferring that I wanted to go to any university EXCEPT CSU Fresno, since the university was a major part of the local culture, and I just wanted a change of scenery. However, my decision to attend my local university did not turn out the way I expected, and I enjoyed my first semester so far (I'll save my breath until finals are officially over).

Since I had transferred from a community college, the first thing I noticed was how much larger the university campus was from my community college. I had went to the CSU Fresno campus a couple of times before I attended as a student, but I didn't notice the campus' size until it took me almost fifteen minutes to walk from the parking lot to one end of the campus to my classroom on the other end.

Another thing I noticed was the time it took to find parking. I hadn't gotten a semester parking pass by my first day of class, so I got a day permit and looked for about 20 minutes for a parking spot. Since the semester parking passes were nearly $100, and parking seemed to take a while, I decided to take the public bus after my first day of classes. It was cheaper than a parking pass and wasn't as inconvenient as I thought, despite having to leave home earlier to catch the bus.

The food options on and around campus were something I saw as a plus. The student union had Subway and Panda Express, and there was an on campus pub that offered daily specials for $6.00 that were worth the price. There were a few places to eat nearby, and I found a great tea place across the street from the university.

The last, but certainly not least, significant experience I had was through my professors and student services. Whenever I had a question about financial aid, or how to check out a book at the library, everyone I encountered was very informative and helpful. In my classrooms, there was a broad range of people from various socioeconomic backgrounds who were respectful to one another and worked well together.

The professors were very knowledgeable and were willing to work with students with any concerns they had. Overall, I would say I had a great first experience at CSU Fresno, and I am glad that I decided to stay local, and almost regret that I once thought of this university as my 'last resort 'school.