I am going to start off with the beginning of my college experience. I remember the emotions stirring up inside me the couple days before I actually left for Ball State; the curiosity, the fear of the unknown, the excitement of being on my own. While all these feelings were building up inside me I also felt so proud to be one of the first people in my family to go away to college. Everyone in my family was so proud of me that I was going off to college. Knowing that they were so proud of me made me feel like I was worth a million bucks. When the day finally came for me to move to Ball State, I remember saying goodbye to my brother at his work. That was the first time I ever had to really say goodbye to him in my lifetime. I knew then that things have really changed in my life. 

My family and I drove down to Ball State and we started to move everything into my room. Going to Ball State I had no real idea of who my roommate was going to be. When I got to my room, there was a pair of red air forces and a suitcase. I immediately thought that I was going to have a black ghetto roommate. After getting the whole room organized a Chinese guy walked into the room. I find out his name is Daniel and he is from China and he was my roommate. He spoke very poor English and I could barely understand what he was saying to me. After I was all moved in, the time came for me to say goodbye to my family. It was actually really easy for me to say goodbye to my mom, my step-dad, and my sister. When it came to saying goodbye to my dad though, it was so much harder. I could see him holding his tears back and I was trying so hard to not let the emotions get to me. I remember thinking that this could have been one of the last times I got to see my dad because he had cancer and it was getting worst.

After my family left I felt a bittersweet moment. One moment I felt so lonely and wished that I could be with my friends and family forever. And then there was the moment of feeling so happy that I am doing something on my own… Walking my own path…