To My New University:

From the bottom of my heart, thank you.

While starting college can be a rough transition, transferring schools is even harder. Everyone else is already settled into both the academic flow and the nightlife of campus, and everyone already has their established friend groups and inside jokes from freshman year. It's also hard to navigate campus that first week without looking like a freshman — again. Trying to find your place in all of this can be difficult, but you helped make it work.

At my last school, I was never quite able to feel at home. I was in an organization and had friends, but I never once felt like I belonged there. I felt stuck, like I was blindly following a path and going through the motions just because I was supposed to.

Between constant boredom and endless frustration with the university and its faculty, I knew I needed to change something or I'd end up regretting it for the rest of my life.

Waiting for my acceptance letter from you was one of the hardest waits I've ever had, but it was absolutely worth it.

While it definitely helped that one of my best friends already went to my new school, I finally ended up with a massive group of friends who are without a doubt now family. These are the people I know I want to be friends with for the rest of my life. There's no one else I'd rather still be (unfortunately) doing homework with at 3 a.m., see new Star Wars movies with, or have the most random of adventures with.

Thanks to you, I'm also in organizations I never would have seen myself joining. Even before the school year started, I had decided to step out of my comfort zone and try writing for Odyssey. I've never been much of a writer, so this was entirely new territory for me. I later surprised myself again by joining a fashion and design group on two of their business committees.

Like most things, this is something I never had the opportunity to work with in high school or my previous school. Already just in the past semester, I've been introduced to so many new opportunities and people, and I know it's only just the beginning. I'm beyond excited for everything there is to come, and it's all in thanks to you.

Thank you for these experiences, for the faculty who believe in me, for giving me some of the greatest people I will ever know, for the career opportunities I'll have after graduation, and most importantly, for being home.

Love,

The Student Who Transferred