Last year when I was applying to colleges, I thought I had at least some idea of where I would end up. I imagined I would remain on the east coast in some quintessential college town with pumpkin patches and snow and people like the ones from my high school. And then, on March 24, I got accepted to UC Berkeley and things got a lot more complicated.
At first I thought I was faced with the most difficult decision of my life. Of course, I knew Berkeley is an amazing school--way more amazing than I felt I even deserved at the time--but I couldn’t fully convince myself to leave everything that I had ever known behind and create a totally new life across the country.
Yet, after I finally toured campus, I knew it was where I was meant to be. Not because the weather was way better than where I’m from or because the restaurants are so amazing or because the campus is pretty and vibrant, but because of something my tour guide said: that without going to Berkeley and making that change, she would not have been able to grow into the person she is today. While touring, I looked at the campus through this lens. I saw people who were different from me and places that were different from those I had known and instead of being simply overwhelmed I became excited--but still overwhelmed, too.
Because it’s not easy to adjust to or to love change. Coming from a small, predominantly white, upper-middle class suburb on the east coast, Berkeley could not be more different. I have had to adjust to city life--its occasional dangers but also its convenience--and to the different lifestyle of California. I have encountered people who are different than me and different from everyone I have ever known--different cultures, ethnicities, backgrounds, interests, and languages. Already, I have been pushed hard academically. I have been exposed to and have come to understand different ways of thinking. At this point, I can’t even imagine going back to my hometown and existing in the same way I always have, just because I feel so different and so much more honest and close to who I truly am.
That is why I say be open to change if the opportunity presents itself; do not be afraid to go somewhere or do something that is totally out of your comfort zone or different from what you’ve always known. There is so much more to see and do--and to discover about yourself--that you cannot explore unless you allow yourself to be challenged and disgruntled. If I had chosen to attend a college on the east coast with people like me from the same background and socioeconomic class as me in a town much like mine, I would not have understood what I do now about the world and about myself. Though I am afraid of change, I do not regret taking a huge leap of faith and changing nearly everything I knew--I can’t imagine my life without it.
