When I was applying to colleges, I had huge dreams of living far away from my hometown for the next four years. I spent my time researching colleges that were as far away from my home as possible, and when I finally submitted all of my applications in December of 2016, I had only applied to two schools in my state.

I eventually picked a school that was 1,012 miles away from my front door. I moved from the ice-land that is Minnesota into the steaming heat that is Texas. I was excited. I was getting what I had always dreamed of. I was finally leaving on my grand adventure.

When I got to Baylor, I loved it. It didn't feel like I was living with four states in between Minnesota and I. I wasn't homesick. I was getting exactly what I had always wanted.

Until one day, it hit me. I'm a thousand miles away from everyone I've ever known. Realizing that was like getting a firetruck to the chest. No one here knew me the way that the people I had left behind knew me. It was a weird thing to realize.

But that's the thing about moving away from your home. You learn so much more from the experience than you could have ever learned by staying around your hometown. I've learned how to make my own family here at school, whether it's with my roommate, my amazing group of friends, or my fantastic CL. I've learned how to cope with failures and disappointments without my parents to hold my hand. I've learned how to be an adult by being away from the most important adults in my life.

Sure, there are days when I want nothing more than to fly home and see my parents, older brother, and house full of animals, but I also wouldn't trade my experience moving 1,012 miles away for anything. Moving to Texas has been a blessing that I could never have imagined. I get to live my dream of living in a new place and I get to learn at the same time. The risk of being homesick was well worth the lessons I've learned here.