When I was deciding where I wanted to go to college, I was sure of one thing: I wanted to go out of state. Even when I was younger, long before I had to begin thinking about college, I knew that I wanted to know what it was like to live in a different state than the one I was born and raised in. I applied to only one school in Nebraska, the rest (somewhere around seven) were out of state. I was tired of my city and wanted to create a new experience outside of its walls. I wanted to see more and meet new people I wouldn’t otherwise meet and get a small taste of independence. That’s why I decided on a school in Colorado. It wasn’t too far, but it was far enough to get those experiences.

I attended this school for a year. This past year, my sophomore year, I returned back home and attended the one school in my state I had originally applied to. I left Colorado for many reasons, money being the most prominent one. I felt like it was a better choice to go somewhere cheap for my undergraduate degree, knowing that graduate school was in my future. Sometimes people ask me if I regret going out of state at all, knowing now that I am in the same place I could have been in two years ago, just without any debt and even more money saved up. While the extra cash would have been nice, there are many reasons why going out of state was a great decision, even if it was only for a year.

I saw a lot more than I would have had I decided to just go straight to the University of Nebraska at Omaha. I got to experience the mountains up close, learn what it was like to live in a big city, and I got a taste of camping and hiking, something that isn’t easy to do in Omaha. I met a ton of cool people, people that taught me many things that I will now always carry with me. I moved out of my bedroom that I had lived in for fifteen years and was away from my family for the very first time. I experienced a new kind of independence that I would have never found had I attended UNO from the start.

While I look back and miss my old school and the people I met, I know I made a good decision transferring. Regardless, I have gained so much in that one short year. I experienced dorm life, the struggles of having to supply my own food, an organization I would have never found otherwise, people who made it a great year, teachers that taught me more than just the curriculum, and I realized the importance of living on your own. It was worth going away a year, even though I came back, and I’m sure in a few years, after I have graduated, I’ll say it was worth coming back for X reasons.

The main thing I am trying to say is, regardless of how much time you have to do something, you can still learn a lot and achieve a lot. I had one year, and I did more in that one year than probably my entire high school career. It was worth leaving and gaining these experiences, despite the small time period. It doesn’t matter if you have one year or four, you just have to make the most out of your experiences using all the time that you have.