Nobody said being a college transfer student was easy.

Honestly, nothing about it is easy. It feels like you're starting over, almost like you might as well be a freshman again. Re-applying to college, figuring out where to live, getting lost on campus, unfamiliar faces, feeling like the new kid, and hardest of all, leaving behind the best friends you made at your former institution, are all difficult things to go through.

You thought you had gotten past the hard part during freshman year. After all the college tours, move-in day, rush week, and adjusting to your new life, you thought you were content. You met new people, got involved on campus, went to football games and had a lot of fun. But something in the back of your mind kept saying, "I don’t know if this is where I’m supposed to be. I don’t know if I’m as happy as I can be." So you decided to transfer and go back through the long process of re-applying and waiting months until you hear where in the world you’ll be next year. Waiting is not fun, but it requires having perseverance and trusting time.

But then you find out you got into your dream school, and everything becomes clear.

Once you get past all the bumps and bruises along the way, they start to seem minor in the big scale of things. These struggles are just a part of the story in a new chapter of life, and it’s worth it. When you know in your heart that you are finally where you’re supposed to be, it’s all worth it.

Sure, there will be days when you want to curl up in a ball and hide from society, and other days when you feel like a social butterfly and feel the urge to be in the middle of everyone during rush hour. This is when you have to remind yourself that there will be up and down days and that’s okay. These are times when you have to move forward and put yourself out there in order to find where you belong.

Being a transfer student comes with fearfulness, loneliness and uncertainties… but those feelings are all a part of life that everyone experiences from time to time. More importantly, transferring comes with feelings of accomplishment, excitement and happiness. You should be proud to be a transfer student because you overcame adversity to achieve your goals and there is a reason you are where you are.

You have a different story to tell.

Last year I attended the University of South Carolina and now I can say I've experienced the true battle of the Carolinas. I don't regret it because it challenged me to go out of my comfort zone by going to an out-of-state SEC school where I knew no one. Luckily I met some amazing people whom I can’t imagine not knowing today. However, after a lot of thought and true reflection, I decided I wanted to fulfill my dream of being a Tar Heel at the University of North Carolina. During the waiting period, I said to myself many times, “There’s no way I’ll get into UNC,” and even now I still have moments of intimidation where I question everything—but in my heart, I know I'm where I belong.

College is a blank canvas; there is no right or wrong way, no exact path. You decide who you want to be. You paint the colors by adding the people, classes, memories, destinations, and every canvas turns out different.