The decision to leave school for a semester, move to a new location, and start over where I knew no one was a big step. I started feeling nostalgic during the semester prior about everything I would miss. The thing is... I do miss school now that I am away. I miss walking around campus and seeing familiar faces in the small college town I have grown to love. I have a fear of missing out on sorority activities and club events. I get emails of upcoming events and feel torn to be away for those experiences.

What I’ve come to realize is that it’s okay to miss out on some things because where you are right now is exactly where you need to be to help you grow as a person. A semester away from school means being thousands of miles from home, and finding the ability and strength to start over and build my life over by staying busy. I’ve found a side of myself which has remained hidden because I was afraid of being judged in college, I’ve become all around a happier person because I am in charge of how I feel about my situation. I was so scared to leave, but once I left it was the easiest thing to start building a new reality. I remember gripping the seat and holding my breath as I took off on my flight with two suitcases to my name. I now know that when the time comes, I will be doing the same on my flight back, memories of my time away soaring through my head. I have realized something important: I don’t fear change as much as I fear the lack of change. I want to go see the world, and experience all that I can before I have huge responsibilities and limited opportunities.

I feel that a semester away from college means that one part of your life changed in an unforeseeable way, which will veer from how you had envisioned college years to be, but for the better. It gives you chance to have a broad spectrum of experiences and the diversity of people you meet will speak volumes. Moving away will help one feel resiliency and that is the best feeling, to know that you can start all over again and everything will be okay, you will still be the same person even with a new set of experiences.