Not often during your process of transferring, do you hear about the difficulties, the annoyance of sending out transcripts and how much you'll miss the friends you've made.
No one tells you about how many things you have to throw out because they wont fit on the plane or even how many people begin to cut you off because they know you're leaving. Transferring can also mean a new start and new opportunities. It's about finding your place at a new school, and getting to start all over again. Although for most people who transfer, they've made the right decision, I'm still not so sure I have.
In late 2015, my father was diagnosed with cancer. After a very rough first semester away at school in Florida, I made the decision to come home for school. I left behind over 75 sorority sisters and countless friends. Coming home meant cold winters, driving to school and having to get a part-time job. I'm at a new school where I don't really fit in, and where I'll probably graduate a semester behind my friends. It meant knowing that soon after I left, I would probably be forgotten at Tampa. My dad's in remission now, and I'm still home.
I wake up every morning in my own bed, in my own room.
I get to eat a home cooked meal every night, I am able to work a part-time job and not be such a broke college kid, I get to do my own laundry for free and best of all, I can spend time with my family and boyfriend as often as I would like. I think about going back to Tampa a lot. Now that my dad is healthy I think about it almost every day. I'm not going to leave New York anytime soon and Long Island is my home, but I cannot deny that transferring is not easy. As appealing as it sounds to start over or be home again, you have to sit down and think of how it's going to feel for you in the future. When your friends post about returning to school soon, or when your best friends go back and your stuck wishing you could leave with them.
Transferring for some people becomes the best decision they have ever made. For others like me, we're still trying to get the hang of it. I'm lucky enough to have the support of my loved ones in all the choices I make, but there was nothing harder than walking away from a group of amazing friends and amazing sisters.
So now here I am, in my own bed, in my own room, in my own house.
