Every once and a while I'll look through the pictures on my phone when I'm sick of scrolling mindlessly through social media. I love being able to uncover memories by looking through my pictures and videos that can give me a glimpse of those past moments. Just the other day I was doing this, scrolling through my pictures when I should've been studying for finals to get a little break. I had made it all the way back to my senior year of high school when I came across a picture that stopped me immediately. It was a picture I had taken walking up Bascom Hill on a college tour I took in the Fall of my Senior year. At this moment, I realized how much of my life has changed since the day that exact picture was taken. It was such a bittersweet moment because I was looking through the photos that related to that point in my life and missed that time, but was able to look at everything that's happened to me since, and it's made me realize how far I've made it since then.

That day I took that picture, I knew I wanted to go to this school so bad, but didn't know if it would be the school I would end up attending. I was just a senior in high school who was trying to get through the last few months of school, the end of my high school career. The people I considered to be my best friends, didn't include all of the people I met through college. I didn't know anything other than living with just my parents. I was looking forward to prom, high school graduation, and spending my last summer at home.

Now, I do go to this school. I've walked up Bascom Hill, right past where that picture was taken, hundreds of times to get to class or other places on campus. I've now met so many people here at college that I would consider my best friends. I've lived with two years of roommates, and so many people who are my age. I learned and matured a lot throughout living on my own and gaining that independence. I can no longer look forward to prom and high school related things, but I have so many other things to look forward to in college. I never realized how much home meant to me until I left, so now I have such a larger appreciation for home.

Reliving my memories through photos and videos is one of my favorite things to do because all it takes is one photo for me to see how much has happened. It's cool to reminisce on the things that were important and were at the forefront of my mind then, and now. I can look through all my memories and look back on everything that has happened, and see how much has changed. I love being able to do that because I'm reminded of all of the things that are different, bittersweet because I miss moments of high school but have loved so much of college and look so much to look forward.