Personal Narrative: Going Into A School

Going into college, a lot of people assume their experience is going to be very straightforward. They think that what they’ve chosen as their major their freshman year is the major that they will graduate with, and that they’re going to make so many new memories and it’ll be the time of their life. For me, going into first semester freshman year, I was really excited. Having grown up in the Bloomington-Normal area I was super psyched to live two hours away in Indianapolis.
Unfortunately, it’s hard to really know what a school is like until you’re there, living it. While I did make some friends, join a sorority, and fall in love with the city, it was really hard for me. The school I went to was mostly a commuter school so most people didn’t

want to come back on campus to hang out, and there just wasn’t anything to do on campus. I really wanted to love it there, but I wasn’t happy. On top of my general college experience being nothing like I thought it would, I have type one diabetes and usually I have it well under control, but when things get bad it’s really hard to be virtually alone two hours away from your family who knows how diabetes works and how to help you. When I dealt with illnesses (like that terrible flu that went around this year) my diabetes only exacerbated the sickness. I was very close to being hospitalized twice in my little over one semester I was in Indianapolis, which happens, but it was really scary having to deal with that without people around me to help.
The decision to transfer was a hard one for me. I was really sick during February, to the point where I had missed 2-3 weeks and talking on the phone with my mom, she helped me talk it through and figure out that taking a medical leave of absence would be best. Then once I was home, transferring back home to ISU seemed like the best choice for me. This way I’ll be close to family if I need them. And, everyone that I know that has gone to Illinois State said they really liked it. It’s like I said at the beginning, sometimes you think your college career is going to go one way, but plans change. Starting my first semester I thought that I was going to spend four years in Indianapolis, and while it didn’t turn out, I’m excited to change things up and try something new.