When I tell people that I'm transferring out of East Carolina after my freshman year, I usually get a shocked, "Why?! How could you hate it here?! It's pirate nation! Everyone loves pirate nation!"

Here I am, breaking the apparently never broken before the barrier of a student who doesn't love her college.

I usually just end up responding with a, "It's a long story." It's not that I tell people that because I don't want them to know why I want to transfer, it really is a long story. I went through a lot of backlash from friends, family, and academic coordinators when I told them all I didn't like it here at all, but here I stand, ready to transfer to somewhere that makes ME happy.

While I'll be going back and forth about why I wanted to transfer after my freshman year and explaining why those feelings are valid, I want you to know that in the end, transferring is all about YOU. It doesn't matter if your friend likes it here and tells you not to leave, if you don't like it, then consider transferring.

I've learned over the past year that this is not what college is supposed to be like. College is not about crying in your dorm almost every night, or feeling like you have no one to go to. (Funny side note story: I vividly remember crying to a boy about why I hated it here, and his response was "Well, I don't know what to tell you cause I love it here", if that gives you any representation of the support system I had here.)

College is supposed to be about meeting people who you genuinely enjoy spending time with, and calling those your "people". It's about crying in the LIBRARY, not your dorm (haha).

I spent so much time trying to make myself feel at home here, and it never truly did. I joined a sorority, went to multiple clubs, went to residence hall events that my RA's put on, but nothing or no one made me feel at home here.

So do not think transferring is a bad thing. You do not suck at college or life in general. If you've given your current college a chance, and you still don't feel at home, (if you can) LEAVE. Do not put yourself through that. No one should ever have to go through what I did, and what I know some of you guys reading this did.

So go ahead, apply to that other university that's always piqued your interest, move back home and go to community college, or find a path that's different from college if that's what floats your boat.

College and your young adult years is the prime time to find yourself, don't feel like you have to suffer for four years because of a decision you made your senior year of high school.