Freshman year -- a time for adjustment and new experiences in a place you will call home for probably the next four years.

That is, until you decide to transfer from the tiny branch campus by the lake (Penn State Erie, a.k.a. Behrend) to University Park.

A few friends of mine decided to transfer out of the frozen tundra of Erie and away from the friends we had made over the past two years. This was something that I never planned on or thought was an option.

My whole life had revolved around a small town and even smaller school district, so choosing to go to Behrend was fitting for me.

I was, for the longest time, dead set against ever leaving. But eventually I caved and decided to take a chance
and join the rest of the girls in transferring to University Park. So the journey began.

There were a few particulars that had to be ironed out. I had to be re-accepted to University Park and granted a change of major.

Then we started to look for a place to live, which proved to be a task in itself.

Realtors wanted checks from us; I wanted to see some of the apartments, and at that point, I wasn't completely sure if I was even going to be accepted.

Time was running out, and the next thing I knew, I was signing a blank check and sending it to University Park with my roommate.

I was accepted in March and moved into my apartment in late August last year. This is where change really took form in my life.

Not knowing anyone and being thrown into this melting pot of people was a culture shock.

Sitting in the HUB, I would watch what looked like a constant waterfall of people flowing down the stairs and filling up the entire ground floor.

I had gone from a campus of 4,000 friends, with maybe a few enemies in there as well, to being surrounded by 40,000 strangers.

The days of skipping class and heading to the beach were gone.

I would never eat a Bruno's chicken wrap or work another hour at the Junker Center.

The little speck that Behrend was, with all its familiarity, could fit easily into Beaver Stadium with room for a few more people. So walking into a classroom filled wall to wall with 300 no-name faces was a new challenge.

Instead of leaving for class two minutes after the class actually started, I was forced to start my hike across campus, map in hand, 20 minutes early.

Not only was the immense size of University Park confusing, but the language was too. When ordering "pop", the lady behind the counter would reply with "one soda" to her counterpart, and give me a look like "oh I'm sorry that you were raised in a barn."

But I give people even weirder looks when I was walking to class and could hear people passing by complaining about the "chilly" weather and half-coat of snow on the ground.

University Park has no idea what snow is until they wake up one morning and look out the first floor window of their dorm room to see snow halfway up it. Now that is a reason to complain.

The transition to University Park began to get easier once I was settled.

The apartment life beat living in a musty dorm room, and having the ability to do what we wanted anytime without the fear of being "referred" again and again by the RA was a perk.

As more and more time went by, the easier things became. I started to let my guard down and tried to make friends and join activities. In just a little time, I started to love it here.

Yes, I did go through the regret of
wondering what would have happened
if I would have stayed, but thinking
about that just kept me from enjoying
the things around me, the real Penn State.