I am the type of person who loves to look at as many possible sides of a situation before taking a step in any direction - not that I need to know what is going to happen all of the time, I just want to know what to expect.
When I applied to college the summer between junior and senior year, I applied to only one school and had no patience to even consider another option. I received my acceptance letter the first day of my senior year and I was just overhigh school and those final 180 days of torture. I ran as hard and as fast as possible towards Campbell University, with no regard to the fact that I did not have any friends who would be going there with me or the possibility of homesickness and failure. I was just ready to experience this wonderful thing called college!
Eric and I on a Campbell trip to see Wicked - Spring of 2015
I settled in quickly and made friends even quicker; within a month I know I could easily have named twice as many friends as I could have in high school, and the quality of the relationships was incredible. I dated around a little before finding a wonderful man (whom I have now called "mine" for almost two years), I was in an awesome Bible study. Truthfully, I blossomed my freshman year. I could see a definite change in who I was before college and who I had become - and I could not have been happier!
Sigma Alpha Omega - Alpha Xi, Gamma Class Retreat (I am on the left end of the middle row) - Spring of 2015
Cut to sophomore year: I had joined a sorority and had a major role in our student newspaper. I took on many responsibilities throughout the two semesters, including an internship and taking a little responsibility in my sorority, and I just continued to grow within myself.
Campbell was truly a blessing to me and I am so glad I began my adult life there... but after two years, I needed to make a few changes.
My Campbell BFFs - the Fall of 2015
Deciding to transfer was exponentially harder than applying to college, mainly because the latter was a natural step, the former was something I had not seen coming - stemming mainly from academic needs that were not being met, but I knew I also needed growth in other areas.
After applying and finalizing the forms needed, I kind of stopped thinking about the coming fall and being at Appalachian - the hard part was over, right?
During our first week on campus, Eric and I spent some time exploring a trail near campus, this is also one of the few photos I have from my year so far - Fall 2016
Here I am, over a month into my junior year and my first year at App, and I feel like I could have made the wrong choice. There, I will say it once - don't ask me to say it again. I am struggling to make friends and to feel comfortable at this place that I am trying to call home. I fear my alone time and my down time, I fear failing at this transition.
I don't want this to scare someone who is considering a transfer, but I do want to be clear that it is not always a smooth transition. I do have people that I am growing close to, but they do not live on campus like I do (a rookie mistake, everyone lived on campus at Campbell, but not so much here), so spending time with them is challenging, especially after classes end.
The main thing I want to stress to anyone who wants to transfer is that you need to be intentional in everything you do. Intentionally get to know the people who sit around you in class, intentionally choose the groups you join, intentionally pursue relationships with people as you get to know them. Coming in with a mindset of intentionality, rather than thinking it will all just somehow work out, will definitely put you a hundred steps ahead of where I started!
