In high school, we are told that it is the best four years of our lives. While I loved my four years of high school, I in no way believe that it was the best years of my life. There are certain things that stand out versus the four years as a whole. Beating our rival my senior year, ruining our English teacher's floor, and Senior Prom are things that stand out in my mind, but that in no way makes those four years the best of my life.

In the semester that I have spent at Troy, I have made life-long friends, experienced new cultures, and met people from around the world. One of my closest friends is from Nepal. I had lunch the other day with a guy from Vietnam. Walking around campus I hear multiple different languages being spoken. Meanwhile, the most 'exotic' thing that happened in my hometown was when a girl moved there from New York... not exactly a wide range of cultures.

High school may very well be the best years of some people's lives, and that's OK. Some people meet their best friends in high school, meet the love of their life in high school, or just have the best experience in high school. But that also doesn't happen to everyone, and that's OK. We shouldn't put the pressure on high school students that comes with that statement. The first time I heard that it made me obsessed with making those years the best, and it ended up stressing me out.

There's nothing wrong with growing up in a small town or loving your high school years, but high school was not the best four years of my life. It just set me up for them.