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This article is written by a student writer from the Her Campus at Dartmouth chapter.

Changes seemed terrifying to me as a child. I did not want anything to change in my life! I did not want to switch schools after elementary school was over, I did not want to move across the street into a nicer and bigger apartment, I did not want to buy new clothes.

I wanted everything to stay exactly the same in my life. After all, change was scary.

One day, when I was in 7th Grade, my parents came up to me and explained that we would move from Germany to London. Well, that was a very big change right there, and I definitely was not excited when my parents told me this. I did not want to leave my home, grandparents, cousins, school and friends behind to move to a different country!

Since I was only 12 years old, I did not have a big say in the matter, and we moved to London. At least, I went to a German School, so I could still speak in German to everyone around me.

After having lived there for a year, my parents told me that there was yet another change in my future: we would be moving to New York City. Now that was the biggest change I could imagine: moving to a completely different continent across the ocean!

As you may guess by now, I did not want that, either. Once again, I did not have a say and my family moved to NYC a few weeks later.

At first, it was scary. I had to adjust to a new language, a new school system, a new culture and find new friends. What did I learn from this experience? Change can be scary at first, but it is also what makes us grow as people, helps us advance in life and achieve our goals. Thanks to my experiences in my teen years, I am much more open to change and I think you should be open to it, too. It can make for such amazing experiences. After all, who wants to stay the exact same person for their entire life?

Paula is the Social Media manager for Her Campus at Dartmouth College. In addition to managing the social media platforms, she enjoys writing about Health, Beauty and Food. Paula is originally from Germany, but lived in London during 8th Grade, attended High School in New York City and has now been attending Dartmouth College for the last 2 years. She is extremely passionate about her YouTube Channel (Paula Joline) and her Instagram account (@paula.joline_nyc), where she enjoys telling people in Germany about life in America and people in the United States about what it is like to go to college.