When coming to college I knew that everyone had said that college will change you. Hearing that all my life kinda of scared me to one extent and to another I didn't really believe all of it. I thought yeah, I may become a better student or truly learn what I wanted to be but it won't be much help for anything else besides getting the education I have to get. But boy was I ever wrong! In a year and a half I have learned more about myself and life than I ever thought was possible in that amount of time.

One of the things I have learned is that I can do so many things all on my own that I never thought I could. I have always been a semi-independent person. In high school it was kinda a mix of things I would do completely alone, like anything that I would not have to actually talk to someone about and then things I would not do on my own, like having to actually talk to someone. I mean I thought I would be ok because I would always have friends or my parents to do things with or for me so that I would never have to but once again WRONG. Moving to college 3 hours away from my parents and most of my friends, having completely different schedules than my friends and the ever changing daily college student life has shown me that I can suck it up and be a big girl and go do things on my own. Used to I relied on my mom to do so many financial and other "adult" things but with her crazy work schedule and my need to have things done when I need them it became apparent to me real quick that I would just have to figure them out on my own. Now, mom I know you are reading this thinking you don't do it on your own you always call me right before you do it and right after, well, that is true I still look to her for so much advice about it but I have learned that I can do it.

Another thing I have learned is I am a completely different person than I used to be. I mean I still like basically the same things when it comes to clothes, entertainment and those sorts of things but when it comes to my attitude I have changed completely. I am not the girl who lets people just run all over her anymore. I used to just agree to whatever people told me to do, if I thought someone was wrong I never argued them, etc. Coming to college has taught me that it is perfectly fine to voice my opinion in the correct way when it is necessary. It showed me that I didn't need certain people in my life anymore because all they did was bring me down and has shown me who my true friends are. I am no longer brainwashed by those toxic relationships so I see things so much clearer when it comes to things I would have never said or done.

I have learned if something doesn't work out the first time it is perfectly fine to try again. In this statement I am not referring to school work because believe me when it comes to that I try as many times to get it right as I can, I mean social kinds of things. In high school when I didn't get something I really really wanted I was always heartbroken and I just gave up but now I am not that same person. I have learned that if you want to get involved with something and it doesn't work out the way you want it to the first time you try, it doesn't mean that you have to give up right there. Maybe that time was just not the right time for you. There is a reason for everything and everything doesn't always work out in your time but rather in God's perfect timing. Over this semester especially a couple things haven't worked for me but I have prayed over them and now think I have a clear sign of what I should do about them. And I'll go ahead and say one of them is something I will definitely be trying for again and if it doesn't work out then, I'll be trying again.

So these are just a few things that I have learned in a year and a half of college and wow its a lot more than I ever expected. I also can't believe that I am already a year and a half done with college and I can't wait to see what the next few years entail. One of the truest things I can say after thinking about all of this is people please step out of your comfort zone because you never know how much fun life can be until you do.