If I'm being honest, if you would've told me that I'd be writing an article with this headline when I was much younger, I probably would've laughed in your face.

Forget actually writing about it, the mere prospect of going away to school was one that I thought was certainly not for me. In other words, I was the girl who was always set on going to college, but also the one who was pretty much sure that she didn't want to be far away from home to do so. I feared home sickness unlike anything else, and so the idea of be fully leaving the nest to go and get my education didn't exactly strike me as the most ideal circumstance.

However, as I grew up a little bit, the idea no longer struck me as unfathomable. As the time to choose a college approached, I started to take interest in the idea of going away, and began scoping out schools that were out of state or at least off of Long Island, which is where I spent my entire childhood.

In the end, I landed stuck between a school in Pennsylvania, and Fredonia. Who would've ever expected that the same girl who saw herself staying home for college not too long ago to have her top choices in places nowhere close to her home? In fact, I was somewhat surprised myself, but in a way, I knew that at least trying the idea of going to a new place and living on my own while going to school would be good for me. If I didn't like it, I could always transfer, but if I didn't try it, there was no way to tell if I would like it or not.

I ended up choosing Fredonia, and I could not be happier with that choice. Although it's very far away from home, going to this school and being away in general has been one of the best experiences that I have ever had.

Since leaving for school, I have learned a lot about myself, how I interact with others, and perhaps most importantly, how I function as an independent person. I have learned how to live without that safety net that being at home provides. I know that I can always turn to my parents, family, or friends when I really need it, but on a day to day basis, I am learning how to live independently.

I won't lie and say that the first semester wasn't rough, or that I don't have a lot of adjusting left to do, but I still know that there was probably no better way for me to grow up than to take that step out into the world on my own. I look forward to the rest of the time that I will spend at Fredonia, and to the many more lessons that I’m sure it will teach me.