Should I stay or should I go? Although this is happens to be the title of the famous song by The Clash, "Should I stay or should I go?" was a question I asked myself throughout my senior year.

My entire life, I pictured myself on Broadway. I figured I would skip the whole college part and move to New York and live on bread and water in some run-down apartment until I landed a role in a show. Then one day, I realized there are too many risks of moving by myself to NYC as a scared, naive 18-year-old, and I decided I'd take the safe route and go to college instead. Since we lived fifteen minutes away, my big brother, who is four years older than me, decided he'd stay at home to attend Youngstown State. I, on the other hand, never had the desire to live at home after high school. I wanted to go far, far away and never look back to begin a new life of my own.

My mind was so all over the place with where I wanted to go to college, what I wanted to study and who I wanted to be in four years. Although I knew I didn't want to go to YSU, I couldn't help but wonder what my life would be like if I did. All of my best friends decided to stay at home and go to Youngstown and my whole family lived in the area. How much would I miss out on? This is when I realized that leaving my hometown would result in also leaving behind people, places, and memories; all things that I wasn't sure if I was ready to let go of. With this in mind, I thought more about my college decisions and wondered if going out of state would break my heart too much. At this point, I looked into some of the best colleges in Ohio and came across Kent State University. Someone very close to me at the time was attending Kent State, and I never thought about going there until I had actually seen the campus for myself. It was love at first sight. The campus amazed me and I could picture myself there the minute I stepped out of the car. As soon as I could, I applied to attend Kent State and got accepted a few weeks later.

The city of Kent is so cute and tiny, the complete opposite of the big city I thought I'd end up in. This is where I asked myself, "Should I go?" I was waiting for someone to give me an answer, and then realized I'd be the only one who could answer. I ran through all of my possibilities and thought carefully on what I truly wanted, and what I truly wanted was to go away to school but stay within reach of all of those memories I thought I had to leave behind. Kent is only an hour away from my home in Boardman, the perfect distance to come home when I needed and to have a life of my own all at the same time.

I was satisfied with my decision. I was proud of myself for choosing to leave high school behind. In the back of my mind I still wondered if I would miss out on the lives of my best friends and thats when the lingering question of "Should I stay?" reappeared. However, I chose to go. I chose new memories, new people, and new places. But at the same time, I knew I wasn't saying goodbye to my old life;

I was simply saying, "See ya later."