Recently, I found myself back at home for a weekend as the first semester of my freshmen year was a little over halfway done, and almost out of the blue it finally hit me that moving away for college was one of the best things I've ever done.

As expected, I, like many others before me, was super scared to move away from somewhere I called home for the past 18 years of my life. I was nervous and worried about making friends and having to do almost everything on my own without the help of my mom. My mom has been the biggest influence on my life and living without her was almost crazy to believe. The idea of having to feed myself, do chores without being reminded, take care of myself when I'm sick (which happens way more often than you would think), and be completely independent frightened me more than anything. Most of my friends had opted to stay close to home and go to the two more local colleges, but I, on the other hand, decided to go to school three and half hours away. Now to some people that may seem like nothing, but when you're as close to your friends and family as I am, it seems like light years away. Over the summer, I often would look at my Move-In Day countdown clock with excitement and, at the same time, worry. The days seemed to go from 185 days to 56 days to 10 days to "Move-In Day tomorrow!" in almost the blink of an eye. And there I was, the night before it's time to move in, freaking out. I was anxious and excited don't get me wrong, but my heart was heavy thinking about how tough it would be to leave the things that made me so comfortable. My sisters, my dogs, my friends, and even my comfy bed were all being taken away from me. To me, this seemed like the end of the world. The morning of Move-In Day I had said my final goodbyes to my friends and family, hugged my mom longer than I ever have before, and I was off to school.

I would be completely lying to you if I said that my experience at first was completely hunky dory, and I loved every minute of it. Actually, after I unpacked and got acquainted with my roommate, he disappeared and I found myself sitting in my bed staring at the ceiling at 9 PM on a Wednesday night wondering if I made the right decision. My first couple of weeks were far from perfect and did nothing to disprove my doubt. I called my mom and my sisters at least 3 times a day because I had no friends. I was so lonely and wanted nothing more than to be at home in my own bed, but one morning I woke up and told myself that I cannot allow myself to sit and become "that kid."

I realized that if I wanted to get anything out of my college experience, I would have to make it happen myself! This was possibly one of the biggest lessons I learned in my first few months of independence. It taught me that life offers no shortcuts and no Get Out of Jail Free cards; the only way to get anything out of this world is to make it happen on your own and take responsibility for those actions. Personally, I'm glad that I had this realization on my own because if someone were to have told me or "gave me advice" on this I would have completely ignored it. That's part of my stubbornness and so is my misunderstanding of the negative stigma that comes with people changing. Yes, there are multiple instances where people have changed for the worse, but moving away definitely let me realize that it was the time I change for the better. For the first time in my whole life, I was completely my own person. I no longer had to be the same person I was in high school or the person I thought I had to be once I graduated. I had a lot of growing up to do in a very short amount of time. In high school making friends came easily. College, however, was a completely different case. No one knew me and, other than a few people, I knew no one. So for the first time, I had to make friends with people without the help of my name or my group of friends. I often wondered how to do this so I started close to home.

For any seniors or freshmen in college considering a transfer further away , DON'T believe the rumors. Live for yourself. You don't have to hate your roommates, your RA, the people who live in the community, or the people on your hall. I actually ended up loving all of these people. My first friends that I ever made while in college were my roommates. Once we realized that we were all going through the same struggle of being independent for the first time we grew closer. After I got close with my roommates, I got acquainted with their friends who then became MY friends. Though we still spoke every day, my phone calls with my mom got shorter, I found myself hanging out with more people than I did in high school, I gained more connections than I ever had before, and I was starting to realize that I was going to be ok.

I've learned more life lessons in my first three months of my college experience than most people who tend to stay close to home will gain in their entire four years. Granted, the struggle is real wherever you decide to go to school, but staying close to home shelters you from a lot you wouldn't have otherwise gained in your time away. There's absolutely nothing wrong with staying close to home and I support anyone who decides to stay in their comfort zone, but personally, I've witnessed that my friends who chose to stay close to home haven't gained the same life lessons and experiences I have. Going to a more challenging and larger academic institution taught me to believe more in myself! Moving away caused me to fall in love with my college because of it now, quite literally, is my new home. Here I am now wrapping up this semester in a place much different than where I started. I have an awesome job as a campus recruiter, more friends than I thought I'd ever make, a good GPA, and more memories than I could have imagined in my wildest dreams. I do understand that I have a lot of growing up left to do and a long journey still left ahead, but right now I'm so glad God placed me where I am.