I stepped foot on the campus of the University of South Carolina for the first time when I was a sophomore in high school as a swimmer. I remember being horrified when I saw a boy wearing a shirt with the word “COCKS” emblazoned across the front, and my mother having to explain the mascot to me; through our drive to the hotel, my mom kept saying, “This would be a great place to go to school.”

I laughed and said, “I’m never going to school here.”

It’s been over four years since that first day I visited. Now nearing the end of my sophomore year of college -- a terrifying thought if I've ever had one -- there has not been a single day that I’ve regretted this choice. Anyone who has known me in any form is aware of the tumultuous college application process I put myself through (I phrase it this way because, yes, this was entirely by my own doing), and it is not something I shy away from discussing, especially with those struggling their way through that horrendous few months. I always close my conversation with them in the same way: you wind up where you’re meant to be. It sounds sappy and cliché and riddled with untruth, for many, but I am a firm believer.

College is universally a time of growth, change and upheaval. It’s a place where you’re supposed to learn and shape yourself and your ideologies, and then learn some more and reshape them. I have been fortunate enough to attend a university that not only gives me the freedom to discover these things about myself, but also fosters this change, encourages me to pursue my interests with (reasonable) abandon. It’s given me countless and unspeakably important friends and faculty members that serve as mentors, confidantes and support systems at any time. This school is stuffed with people passionate about the content of their classes -- whether they are teaching it or learning it. I am surrounded by people who genuinely love the school they attend with their entire being.

This university is special. I look at the celebrations from the Gamecocks men’s basketball team entering the Final Four for the first time and see people drenched in tears and sweat and the water from the Five Points fountain because they are unspeakably happy about the win. I see the way our president interacts with the student body (even if sarcastically), and the true kindness and care he takes with our institution. I see the unification the sight of a Gamecock hat in an airport can spring, the cheers of “GAME!” and “COCKS!” echoing throughout any place where more than one of our fans is located.

I’m almost halfway done with my time at USC, and aside from it absolutely terrifying me, it also breaks my heart. This place has become home, has become a place from which I never want to leave and to which I always look forward to returning. It’s the school that will always have my heart, no matter where my postgraduate studies take me. Once a Gamecock, always a Gamecock.

So, South Carolina? Thanks for proving me wrong -- forever and ever to thee.