Let me begin by saying this article is not meant to throw anything bitter, resentful, or angry. In fact, as a senior at my college, I have thought a thousand times over about transferring, but I can still sit here and know that in the short and long term, I made the right choice to go to Lafayette College. I have an incredible set of friends, my classes have allowed me to find my passions and have truly challenged me, and the opportunities that students can get here are simply incredible.

However, that does not mean that I call my college "home."

I knew fairly early on that college would not be perfect for me. I could sense the drama, the uncertainties, and the rejection that I would face over the three years in college (I'm graduating early, but that's mostly for financial reasons). Of course, a lot of this drama, uncertainty, and rejection I can attribute to my own doing, but some things are simply inevitable. It kind of freaked me out that other students could say that their college was their second home, but I couldn't. There wasn't quite the sense of belonging that I'd craved, and it seemed like undergrad was just the rite of passage for the things I was more excited about. To me, college didn't and still doesn't feel like home -- the place I yearn to go back to, the place where I feel the most confident and will speak of with an incomparable sense of love.

And that's OK.

The thing is, everyone's lives are different, and everyone's journey is different. If you look on the outside of my life, it seems like my college experience is great- and it is! Like I said before, I have a great set of friends I know will be in my life for a long time, a class I took freshman year has gotten me absolutely hooked on international relations and I love my major more and more every day, and I've gotten opportunities to swim at the Division I level, photograph various events around campus, and learn more about the social justice causes I fight for every day. However, I've always found that something was missing for me- and it took a semester off-campus at a program in D.C. to realize that not only am I a total urbanite, but the undergrad experience just isn't for me. And for the first time, I realized that that's OK.

For me, the most important part of college has been being able to discover myself and be proud of the person I saw when I looked in the mirror. One of the most pivotal moments for me was this fall in my swim coach's office, when I said to him, "this is the first time in my life that I know who I am, and that I'm confident in who I am", and then I burst into tears. If I'm to give any advice to anyone in college or those looking to go to college, it's this -- whether you end up staying all four years, you take a year off to intern or travel, you take time abroad, you take time at community college, you commute, you transfer -- no matter what you do, do it for the right reasons, and make sure that you're happy.

While I did consider transferring, I knew that while my college wasn't home for me, it was still a place I could thrive -- and I have thrived, socially, academically, and personally. That's what college is for. So if your campus doesn't feel like home to you, you're not alone. College isn't always the best four years of your life, but life is 90 percent made up of your reactions to things that happen, and that's where it really counts. Take the time to get to know a professor, go to that event you secretly want to go to but are afraid to go to alone, take a risk and go abroad for a semester. College has so much to offer, and just because the campus isn't your first home, it doesn't mean that you're weird or something is wrong with you- college isn't home for everyone.

Now get out there, because life is an incredible adventure.