As of the writing of this sentence, I have about nine hours until I return to Purchase College for my sophomore year. After four months of being three hours away, placed in a consistent routine of work and boredom, I am finally going back to the place that was brand new to me a year ago. What a wonderful feeling that is; to rediscover something you love dearly.

And I do love Purchase. Even if it is the fourth ugliest campus in the country, I have a great appreciation for every bland brick. It's where I've started finding out who I really am as a person, what I want to strive for in adulthood, the kind of people I want to surround myself with. There is no greater gift to be received than that of self-discovery, and while I only I can place that upon myself, I am able to find who I'm sure to become in White Plains.

Last year wasn't perfect; my dormitory was less than ideal most times (sorry, Crossroads), the breadsticks at D-Hall were always stale, the laundry rooms hardly worked at all. But I had forgotten all of those unfortunate details and had to think of them in order to complain. Even then, they're nothing more than small hiccups in my otherwise smooth freshman experience.

If you were to ask me to tell you about my year at Purchase, I would tell you of all the movie nights I had with the friends I made within five minutes of stepping foot on campus, and the spontaneous res-hall Jewish wedding I bore witness to, specifically after quite an emotional movie night. The historic and anticipated "Kabuki lesson" from Professor Peter Sprague, and the sheer madness that is the Improv Club, and the blessed fact that Starbucks is part of our meal plan. I could give a damn about grey bricks. The color is on the inside.

There will be more memories like these in nine hours. Only this time, my dorm will have an elevator and a private bathroom, functioning laundry rooms will flourish across campus, and I presume that I will have at least one fresh breadstick from D-Hall. I am excited, enthusiastic, and daunted by my future, and that is exactly how a good college should make a student feel.

I have found a second home that is becoming more and more like a first every day.