As my junior year ends, and my last year of university quickly approaches, I find myself reflecting on my time at Temple University and how much I have grown within the past three years.
In full disclosure, I don’t recognize the girl who decided on Temple a few years ago. While it seems unfathomable to have grown so much in such a short period, I am often not saddened by this unfamiliarity but rather proud of the person I have become.
I remember being so stressed in my college application process, unsure of where to go and what to pursue. Somehow, I landed on Temple and while I am not exactly sure what led me in the direction of TU, I do know that within the undertones of choosing a post-secondary education was the desire to experience a new atmosphere. Growing up in a super small town, where everyone knows everyone, I couldn’t wait to escape. Never living in an urban setting, I knew that I wanted to get out of my small town and explore the big city of Philadelphia.
While I wouldn’t ever trade in my experiences, friends, and opportunities that Temple has provided me with, my time at Temple has left me missing home. Leaving a life that was so familiar to me only three years ago has brought light to just how special my childhood hometown is.
Throughout my time at Temple, I have spent a lot of time exploring other parts of the country and world to find my perfect place. Each experience and place I have been has left me in awe and given me a new appreciation for the many beauties of the world. At Temple, I found authentic friendships, in Florida, I discovered independence and in Italy, I found adventure and growth in places I couldn’t have fathomed before my departure to a new country.
Yet, it was in my search for the perfect place, that I realized that I had surpassed the most imperfect place: home.
I used to think that I had to go someplace new to make something out of myself and become a better and more unique person.
While this belief holds true seeing as I wouldn’t be who I am today without immense growth, change, lessons, opportunities, and experiences (that leaving home brought me), home is home.
I now realize that it is the imperfections of my home that make it such a special place. No child raised in the urban setting of Philadelphia could ever understand the magic of summer nights in my small hometown. Summer sunset drives, local town fairs, weekends at the campsite, trips to Knobles, hikes, and the sound of crickets chirping at night. All these specific experiences that you can’t know or understand unless you were right there to experience them as I was.
That’s what moving away from home has given me. A new appreciation for the small town and slow lifestyle that I couldn’t wait to escape 3 years ago.