Dear College,

At first we had a love hate relationship. Finding you was stressful. You cost a lot of money and you didn’t always give the scholarships a girl like me needed. You required me to leave my family and friends and that was really sad. I dreaded meeting you, but finally the time came and I had no choice. However, after the tears had dried from waving good-bye to my loved ones, you were actually everything I thought you would be. And now that I have spent a year and a half with you, I felt it was time to actually thank you.

Thank you for being a healthy environment where I can learn and be challenged. You actually provide fun classes where I can explore my passions more. You brought professors into my life that I can have great conversations with and meet with outside of class. You brought real life experiences where I can put my passions into practice.

Thank you for being my own little community. I love walking around campus and knowing this is like my mini home within my own mini neighborhood. I love seeing all kinds of friends as I go from one building to the next and I love you give us a place to all eat together. It’s like an ongoing party. You even gave me my own post office and gym. I can play Ping-Pong whenever I want and people love to play ultimate Frisbee here. You offer all kinds of sports teams where I can play competitively or as a complete joke. Thanks to you, I found out I like water polo and absolutely hate flag football.

Thank you for the schedule you provide and breaks you so generously offer. Only a couple of classes a day, sometimes starting at 12 in the afternoon makes for an easier day. Gone are the days of being in class from 7:00 a.m. until 3:00 p.m. Thank you for letting each semester be a new start with new classes. And I can get through fall semester knowing I have a long Christmas break where I have absolutely nothing to worry about. Spring semester doesn’t seem so bad because summer is right around the corner where again, I won’t have to worry about anything!

Most of all thank you for letting me live with my friends. It’s like a sleepover that never ends! We get to do life together. We get to laugh through our embarrassing moments, cry during the stressful weeks, and celebrate when we reach our goals. I miss my real family, but you have provided me with one here and for that I am so grateful.

So despite the stress, the expenses, the separation, thank you for the experience of a lifetime. It is one I will never forget or take for granted.

Yours truly (but only for the next two years really),

The college student