I've always been told that college changes your entire perspective on life and I never actually believed that statement was true- that is until I found myself viewing things differently from the moment my parents drove away in “the green machine" and I realized I was about to take on college and the world, alone and on my own two feet. There's something poetic about being on your own for the first time. One minute you're doing as you're told and answering to your parents and your teachers and the next minute the only person you really have to answer to is yourself. It's a freeing yet scary thing to think about because you're telling yourself you can do it, and you can't do it at the same time.

In high school I used to say I enjoyed the finer things in life, talking about the things that money can buy. Yet when I got to college my view on the finer things changed completely. I met two people at the start of my freshman year who took pictures of every beautiful sunset, along with every beautiful thing in nature. At first, I thought it was quite odd to do this. I would think to myself, “who would stop everything to take a picture of the sky?" or “The sky is pretty, but who cares? We're busy," until one day I actually stopped and looked at the sky when I was alone. I was instantly mesmerized by the beauty and power the sky held. I started to take pictures of the sky myself and began to see why they enjoyed doing this so much. The more I did so the more I started to realize that the finer things in life were not, in fact, things money could buy, but the complete opposite. Money cannot buy you a beautiful sunset. It can buy you a picture of one, but it can't buy you the experience and joy that the person who captured or painted that picture felt. The finer things are in fact the things that you can experience and say that you were there and you lived through it. Whether it was a good experience or a bad one, you will always be able to say you were there. The moment I realized this my entire view of things changed completely just like I was told it would. I finally started to notice how much of the world was actually beautiful. Yes, there may be some people who are rude to you, yet there are more who are kind to you. Yes, there may be hate in the world, yet there is more love in the world. Once you decided to have this mindset towards the world everything changes.

In high school my life and the things I did were all for the benefit of me, yet now I understand why everyone always said your outlook on life changes because mine has. I have learned that the finer things in life are not things money can buy, but the things that you have in your life that do not have a price. Your faith, happiness, laughter, family, friendships are all finer things in life. The ability to watch the sunset is so much more rewarding than the ability to buy a car. The ability to forgive and forget is so much more rewarding than the ability to hold a grudge. The ability to love is so much more important than the ability to hate. As I went off to school and had to mature so did my views on life. I used to look at life with a glass half empty mindset, yet now I am at a glass half full state of mind. I enjoy the true finer things in life and understand the meaning of the saying now.