The week before the start of Thanksgiving break, I hit an all time low; all I wanted was to be home… or at least anywhere other than at school. I was uncontrollably sad and I felt completely alone, and with the pressure of all the pre-break exams, I felt like I was going to crack at any given moment. On top of it all, I felt like I was slowly disappearing into the background as everyone in my friend group began to find their people. Ultimately, I didn’t feel like I was fully connecting with my friends, or this school. I decided to go home a day earlier than usual, and googled schools to transfer to during the entire 5 hour ride home. I even went as far as calling other schools to find out if it was too late to apply for the spring semester.
My mom told me I needed to finish the semester strong and dragged me back kicking and screaming. I remember calling her four times that night, and ultimately cried myself to sleep.
I don’t remember exactly when it happened, but at some point in the following week things made a drastic turn for the better. I started hanging out with a girl in my major outside of classes a lot more, and we became super close. Then miraculously, another girl in our major had a spot in her room open up. I immediately called dibs, and have since become very close with her and her other friend. I decided that maybe all I needed was to surround myself with new people and to focus my energy on creating my own positive experience here. The four of us have become attached at the hip, and in spending more time with people who made me feel happy to be here, I ended up getting three best friends.
Now, as I’m finishing up my last couple of finals, I’m genuinely sad to leave UNH and my friends for five weeks. The fact that I’m going to miss being here so much over this break, makes me not even want to consider transferring next year. If I’ve learned one thing over the last three weeks, it’s that your college experience has more to do with who you surround yourself with than what campus you’re on.