As my time as a college freshman dwindles down to its final days, I find myself consumed with reflecting on this past year.

I had always been ecstatic about coming to college. I had no doubt that my life would only be bettered by all of the change that was about to ensue. However, when fall finally approached and I packed up my parents minivan with all of my belongings, I felt an unfamiliar twinge of heartache. As excited as I was to come to school, I was incredibly sad to have to say goodbye to so many things that had been so prominent in my life. The first few weeks of school were a lot harder than I thought. I changed my zip code, my hobbies, a few of my classes, my relationship status, my choice of major, and my entire friend group. I found myself sitting in my dorm room, with the stranger that I now called my roommate, at a complete loss for who I was.

However, it took approximately two weeks for the stranger across the room to become my best friend, and the emptiness I was feeling to be filled with so many new and exciting things instead.

Coming to college was the beginning of a lot of endings. I left my hometown and moved to a different state, putting hundreds of miles between me and everything I'd ever known. I came to school, and not only had to figure out where my classes were, but also figure out who I wanted to be.

Residing in the humble town of Bellingham for the last nine months has taught me more than I thought I could ever learn. I have grown into a much more solid, aware, adult-like individual, and I owe it all to the small campus of Western Washington University.

I learned that just because your parents aren't forcing you to eat vegetables anymore doesn’t mean your body doesn't still need them; that coffee isn’t a food group, and it does not count as a "nutritional breakfast"; that the only way you should measure your success is by how happy you are; that letting go does not make you less, it just allows for you to become more; that sometimes it is easier to make new relationships than hold onto the old ones; that your mom will miss you more than you realize, and it is important to call her as much as you can.

I learned that the only thing that is worth fighting with your roommates about is where to go out to dinner, that Cs do get degrees, but so do As (and that you should really prioritize your study time), and that the best cure to any heartbreak is a bottle of wine, a lot of girl power music, and a dance party with your best friends at an ungodly hour of the night.

I learned that some of the most honest moments will happen on the rooftops of buildings you're not supposed to climb up on, with people you just met. I learned that the true saints in the world are the people who have to work the night shift at AB Crepes, and there aren't enough tips in the world to show my gratitude for the fact that I can eat so good at 2 a.m.

I learned that there are classes that will teach you so much more than a textbook ever could, and that education is such a magical thing when the professor is just as passionate about the subject as you are. I learned that the RAs don’t want to ruin our lives, they just have a job to complete, and the people who gather in red square to sing together every day somehow can always make you feel a little less stressed out.

Most importantly, I learned that feeling at home has nothing to do with your zip code. Home is where the people who make you the best version of yourself are. Sometimes the town you grew up in will feel less like home than your tiny dorm room does, and that is OK. Finding your home is about finding people who know when you're sad before you have to say it, and about finding a space you can relax in, and a place you can breathe in. I found it in parks filled with lots of trees, in rooms filled with lots of laughter, in a coffee shop filled with people I don't know, and in small classrooms that hosted great conversation. I've learned that home can't be summed up by just one place, but instead, by all of the people who love you.

So my advice to the incoming class of freshman, at WWU and anywhere else is applies, is to embrace the next year of your life, and accept all of the lessons that are about to come your way.

Most of them you won't even know you needed to learn.