It's been a couple days since I left Brockport for the summer and I honestly don't know how I feel. This year was an absolute whirlwind. I feel like I just left home to move four and a half hours away to go to college. I feel like I was just crying in my dorm room as my dad moved me in and left. I feel like I was just crying myself to sleep because I was so homesick and wanted to just go home.

I don't feel like I just came home with a car load of stuff after my freshman year of college. I don't feel like I just completed a year of 33 credit hours. I don't feel like I am 1/4 of my way through my college career. Honestly, this is such a weird time in my life. College is so weird because one minute you are so independent and the next you are back home where you parents are telling you what to do.

This year has totally changed me in ways that I never thought were possible. Thinking back on my choice to come to The College At Brockport is so weird to me because I never thought I would end up being this happy here. I honestly thought I was going to hate it because it wasn't my dream school. I never thought I would end up making the best friends ever and that it would be so hard to leave them. Over this past year, I have learned so much about myself. I have learned to take risks because you have no idea how they could benefit you. I have learned that moving away from your hometown is so important even if it is only for a little while. I have learned that not everyone will always agree with you and that's okay. I have learned that it takes time to make friends and there is nothing wrong with that because the one's you make will end up changing your life.

If this year hasn't taught me anything else it definitely has taught that everything happens for a reason. People are put on your path in life because you are supposed to meet them. You are supposed to mess up and fail in life because then you will find happiness and do things you never thought or dreamed were possible.

Freshman year, you changed my life. You impacted my life in so many ways that I would never have thought in a million years would happen. You showed me what creativity looks like, what happiness feels like and how you should always have a dream in mind because it can be reached. You helped me find myself and I am so grateful for that. I am also so grateful to be a golden eagle and there is no other moment than now that I am proud to call myself a golden eagle.

Brockport, I love you and I will see you in January.