After my first year of college, I decided to move on to a different scene when I opted to transfer to another University and leave all the memories and connections from year one behind.

As a high school student, I only applied to five schools in total, so maybe the blame fell on me. Maybe I didn’t entirely examine my options.

Nevertheless, I weathered the storm of the first year, and it was a tumultuous storm to say the least. Entering the vast, urban campus as a naïve first-year student was uncanny. I felt like I didn’t fit in from the very beginning.

In an attempt to make connections, I decided to join a fraternity. It’s not fair to say that’s when things went sour, but things did take a turn for the worse around that time. It wasn't anyone else's fault, though. I was the main catalyst.

Without going into too much detail, I wasn’t happy where I was. I went from being my normal, energetic, fun self to being a depressed, passive-aggressive shell of the person I once knew.

I was stuck in the right time but at the wrong place. I had constant back-and-forth internal struggles and I could never seem to be at peace with my decision. Part of me wanted to leave and go somewhere else. Another part of me wanted to wake up one day and just not care anymore. A fraction of me wanted to go on with college and not care that I wasn’t happy, as ludicrous as that sounds.

So long story short, I decided to leave, and it wasn’t easy. In fact, it was probably the hardest decision I ever had to make, because I truly and sincerely cared about the people I was leaving behind. And I truly and sincerely still do.

It got to a point, though, where the sleepless nights and stress-induced days just weren’t worth it anymore.

Looking back on my experience, I've realized I learned a myriad of lessons from my tumultuous summer following my first year of college.

I realized I wasn't alone. I would occasionally talk to peers from high school who would tell me they were transferring as well, and that's when I realized that humans our age aren't perfect.

Despite being part of a generation that thinks its impervious, we are, in fact, prone to mistakes. We're not perfect. Personally, having thoughts of transferring was almost like admitting I had failed at college. Those feelings don't get easier when you're looking at your friends have terrific times via social media. Realizing I wasn't the only teenager dealing with transferring helped enormously.

For the longest time, it felt like I was giving up. It was hard not to feel that kind of somberness. After all, I felt like I was turning my back on the people who opened their arms and welcomed me into their life. It took me a very long time to understand I wasn’t giving up. I was letting go.

I felt remorse and regret. It didn’t last long, though, and for that I’m grateful. When you get into a state like that, you begin to realize you're not alone and you have friends and family who are there to support you. As stubborn and as secretive as I tried to be, I realized I wasn't alone during the process.

By transferring, I learned how important it is to take calculated risks. I’ve told people whom I’m close with that transferring was the biggest risk I’ve ever taken, and that’s not hyperbole. Transferring gives an individual the opportunity to restart, so to speak. But those proverbial restart buttons aren’t unlimited. At the end of the day, you have to jump.

A life without risks is a probably a life that's boring, after all.

Transferring also taught me to do what makes you happy. A lot of factors go into transferring, but the overarching aspect is one's happiness. You don't have to live with your first-year neighbor for the rest of your life, and you don't have to live with your first-year RA for the rest of your life either. You do, however, have to live with yourself, and your own happiness is paramount.

At the end of the day, you can't make everyone happy, so you might as well try to make yourself.

I also learned to embrace the unknown, regardless of how scary it may appear. Think about it; tomorrow is unknown, and so is the day after that. Being scared of the unknown hinders life and enjoyment.

I began my second stint as a college student feeling like a first-year student all over again. I knew three people in total, and I felt lost and out of place. I’m incredibly happy I was removed from my comfort zone, though. I had to adapt, and by adapting I met some truly amazing people.

But I suppose the biggest lesson I learned from transferring is that there’s always a plan B. I've sort of adopted that as my motto now, sprinkling into conversation whenever it's appropriate. There's truth to the phrase, though. Life is so damn unpredictable and so damn uncontrollable that things seldom go exactly the way we plan it.

Nobody really knows how the future is going to play out, but it's always good to have other options.