As I finish up my first week of senior year, all I can think of is how far i've come in the last three years. While i'm going to be graduating in just a mere 8 and a half months, I feel as if I just started my journey at Texas Lutheran University. I remember every small detail of my first year in the small town of Seguin, Texas and it's hard not to feel a little bit nostalgic. I remember my FREX (freshman experience) professor bringing breakfast for the class at least once a week. I remember discussing my interest in Greek life with my peer mentor, who is also writing for the odyssey community alongside me, and him instilling in me the high hopes he had for me at this incredible university I call home. I remember taco Tuesdays, hot cookie nights, and unlimited Blue Bell. The kind dining hall staff, especially Mrs. Sharron, always greeting me with a smile. I remember coordinating my dorm room with my roommate, the first of many to come.

There are so many small details that will make this place hard to leave. While I cannot wait to finish my degree and continue on with my life starting my career as an Elementary Educator, It's also going to be a tough journey to see come to a close. I've made so many memories on this small campus, some that I know sometimes I take advantage of. Like the fact our professors know our names and care individually about each one of us. Or the fact it takes a maximum of 10 minutes to get anywhere in this little town. Or having snow catered to the Texas heat so we can ice skate and go sledding and have snowball fights. This small community has truly grown on me without me even realizing it.

Not only have I fallen in love with this university, I've managed to fall in love with myself also. Coming into college I was a lost 18 year old that really didn't have the confidence to truly know who I am or even love who I am. I even came in as an undecided major because I was so out of touch with my passions and likes and hobbies and just myself in general. It only took me a single semester at TLU to discover my passion for educating our youth and to be able to fully commit myself to a life of education, both being the educator and the educated. I was so scared of my future and now I feel confident enough to go into the world and do what I love every single day. Yes, I still do have nerves about life after graduation, but I now feel a lot more prepared and a lot more excited.

While my choice of major helped instill some of the confidence I have been lacking, so did my commitment to my sorority. Although I had been exposed to Greek life via my sister, I was still unsure whether it was really right for me. I didn't have the confidence in myself to believe I could actually get in, and even though I was a legacy of the only sorority I was even interested in, I wanted to know that I could get in on my own, and that (being myself) I didn't trust in. Before college, I had never really been the most social or outgoing person and I didn't make too many friends. I didn't have the perfect closet, or hair, or body, or any of the "cliche" things you think will be the deciding factor on whether a sorority wants you or not.

As I began attending every Xi Tau even throughout the Fall semester (since rush for TLU isn't until the Spring), I learned that I really connected with these females. I didn't feel the need to pretend I was someone I wasn't and I could tell they weren't doing that either. I quickly became adapt to the thought of Greek life and, more specifically, becoming a part of Xi Tau. So you know what? I rushed that first Spring and I rushed exclusively Xi Tau. And here I am now, 3 years later, an officer in that very same sorority. Xi Tau, i've learned, is a group of women so strong and so motivating that i've also become a better version of myself through the organization. They encourage me to grow every single day and they challenge me to reach for new heights and step outside my comfort zone. I've become the kind of woman i've always dreamed of becoming, a woman i've learned to love, and trust, and have the utmost faith in. I've become a woman with confidence, something I had lacked for years.

This University, while often not known of by others, has become so large in my life and so large in me. I have learned boldly and now live to inspire. I have developed myself through a liberal arts education and have developed myself through an empowering sorority. So as I embark on my last year at Texas Lutheran, I know i've become the person I need to be in order to succeed in life outside of this small community but, I also know that leaving this place is going to be like leaving a piece of myself behind.