Returning to Eastern for my junior year has me realizing how thankful I am to be here. A few days ago, I was sitting in one of my favorite spots reading, when I took the time to admire my surroundings and think about all the wonderful times and people I have had and met here. Maybe it's the senior talks I heard while helping with freshmen orientation that is getting to me, but I can't help but stop and admire a place whose beauty has been undeniably healing to me, and whose people have irrevocably changed and challenged me.

I chose Eastern because there was no doubt in my mind this is where I needed to be. God had led me here and confirmed it. And I am so thankful He did. What is even more amazing is what stood out to me then about Eastern, has become even more foundational and crucial to my experience since. The campus and the people were my two draws to come here. At first glance, both aspects were terrific, but at a now 2 year, in-depth experience of both, have grown even more beautiful.

True, the flaws have risen to the surface as well. But that sing-song statement, "college is what you make it" means taking what you've chosen (and been given) and deciding the attitude you're going to have going forward. I knew that overall, even where Eastern lacked, I could not get over the amazing people who this school seemed to attract, and the campus that quieted me in times of stress, that left me renewed and reminded me that God was in control.

See, I don't know if there's something in the water here at Eastern, but it's like there's a magnet that draws these incredible people with big dreams and big plans to change the world, with interests and gifts that some might call "quirky," and for the majority, a security in Christ that leads them to take amazing leaps of faith. My friends here have made my college experience, and they truly have become everything to me. So far, they have been there for me at my worst, celebrating me at my best, and beside me, trekking with me, through this crazy thing called life.

This campus takes my breath away. Every time I arrive back, or I get up in the morning to follow the path to class, I feel my spirit getting lighter. Taking time to soak in the sounds, the sky, the trees, the breeze, it has led me to some well spent time with my God and my thoughts. I never realized what an effect my surroundings would have on me, but they truly are what has made me stop during all the busyness, take a step back, and take a deep breath in.

So as I return to this beloved, beautiful school, with wonderful friends, all the flaws of Eastern fully present yet somehow unimportant, I welcome the experience. I await with anticipation for what this new semester will bring. I stay thankful, because, despite its quirks and flaws, Eastern is a place worth being at. For me, it's meant more than I ever thought it would, even in these past two years here. I hope to remember how thankful and privileged I am to be here following these next two years.I also hope that these next years will be even better than the first. But I mean, they will be. After all, your college experience is, in every way, what you make it out to be.