Rutgers University was definitely not a school that ever broke the top five on my list of college acceptances. Drexel, The University of Miami and Northeastern were always my dream schools, one of which I fully expected to attend upon acceptance. I saw myself happily roaming the grounds of each of these campuses for different reasons, but I could never picture myself at Rutgers in the same way.

I could imagine myself as a Dragon, Cane or Husky, but never a Scarlet Knight. Every school was either too expensive or too far away for the liking of my parents, so I was left with very limited options. On Christmas day when I was given a bright red car and boxes full of Rutgers gear, I knew where I was going. I knew not because I had decided on my own but because my parents were excited for me to rock the famous R.

Approximately 20 students from my town attend Rutgers each year. To me, that just made Rutgers a generic school that almost anyone could get into. I did not appreciate the endless opportunities Rutgers provided because I thought it was just a school that people fell back on when they weren’t accepted into Princeton or any other prestigious private school. I thought I was only going to make friends from New Jersey and that I would be completely lost among 40,000 students for four long years. I thought going to college in New Jersey was unadventurous and would leave me dependent on my parents. I thought I was going to be unhappy.

Now I know that I was wrong.

Rutgers is my home now. Rutgers is the place I never want to leave. Rutgers is the place where I am finding my independence. Rutgers is the place where I have found friends from all over the country. Rutgers is the place I love the most.

Because I am only 30 minutes from home, I have the luxury of seeing my family whenever I feel homesick, and sending my laundry home with my parents when I’m too lazy to do it myself. I have the luxury of inviting friends from home to visit me with ease, as well as being surrounded by thousands of different people who I learn from every day.

Rutgers is like its own country. With five separate campuses, each like their own states, Rutgers has the essence of five smaller colleges, all wrapped up into one university. You can visit Cook/Douglass to take a jog on a nice day, Livingston to meet a friend for coffee, Busch to attend a sporting event or College Avenue for a night out. Hopping on a bus and being able to experience a completely new environment within minutes is something I never expected to experience. Nothing about Rutgers is uniform. Every part of it is completely unique and unlike any other school I visited.

As finals are approaching, and packing to return to my hometown has begun, I am becoming increasingly nostalgic when looking back through my Facebook album, with its first picture from August 28. It is funny how only eight months of time has turned a place I hated into one that I never want to leave.

Rutgers has proven to be a microcosm of the real world. Every day I step outside of my dorm, I know I am entering a new day full of excitement, adventure and enlightenment. Because I was so narrow-minded as a high school student, I would like to remind those in my position to always keep your options open and never enter a situation with a closed mindset. I would not be attending the school of my dreams right now if I had continued thinking that way. Now 250 years of pride and revolution surround me every day, and I am proud to call myself a Scarlet Knight.