As a citizen of a small town, it is not unordinary to know the majority of the individuals that surrounded me. Whether it was because of my own transfer from a large, public high school to a smaller, private high school after my sophomore year or because of my community involvement, I've just always been a social butterfly of my roots.
When it came time to decide on where my next step of education would be, there were two state schools that it seemed like everyone decided to go off to. Seeing as though I've always had the "I create my own path" mentality, I immediately crossed these two options off my list and chose a smaller, private college where I knew no one. It wasn't until I started seeing my best friends and previous classmates all enjoying the "typical" college experience together that really made me question my decision.
It wasn't until I found myself staying up almost every night, bogged down with homework that I started to regret my decision. As I would take study breaks and watch the Snapchats of themed parties and non-stop campus activities consuming my feed, I felt like the social scene that I was always used to was not on my own campus, but on theirs.
At this point, I applied to one of these state schools, set up housing, was accepted, and marked my decision as "decision made". I was going to leave my current school, give up a top-notch education, and see what the "typical" college experience was all about.
After a long first semester of barely scraping by with all A's, putting myself out there in hopes of finding a friend group that I believed didn't exist at this point, hundreds of hours in the library, a friendship-breakup, and a computer overflowing with assignments, I was done. After Christmas break, I cried to my mom and on the whole way back to campus and was certain that this would be my last return to this school.
But what I didn't realize during this time was the person and student that God was shaping me to be. I had lost track of the exact reasons that brought me to this university in the first place. I began to seek an easy way out and was giving into the curiosity that felt like was eating me alive.
Now, as my Freshman year is coming to an end, I could not even begin to imagine myself anywhere else. I am surrounded by friends that are unconditionally uplifting and encouraging, I have professors who know more about me than just my name, and I know that when it comes time to find a career in the future, I will be more than ready and prepared for what this world has to offer.
Even though I still don't understand how it is possible for college students to go out more than just on the weekends, I'll appreciate my time in the library and know that I'm exactly where God wanted me to be. It's funny how life works sometimes.
