Tooting my own horn, because it's about time I took some time to.

College isn't supposed to be an easy time for anyone. It's a time of transition. Transition from one school to another, from youth to adulthood, and so many other ways. It is by no means made easier for someone who chooses to go out-of-state. I don't mean something like going to a college in a neighboring state, I mean going to a college where you just can't go back for the weekend, much like the situation that I'm in. I may not be going to Yale or MIT, but I don't think that people like me are praised enough to have the maturity and strength to step out of the familiar, to go halfway across the country, to isolate ourselves from the friends and family we know and care about so much. It's no easy feat, and I don't think that the people who choose to go UW when they live in Kent or Renton really understand.

Gone are the comforts of home. Old friendships are not necessarily severed, but may become strained by the incomprehensible miles in between. You start to realize what you had, and how much you miss it. Not that I am hopelessly homesick, UND is a good place. I have made many great new friends, and the opportunities that I have had to grow as a person here are some that I may never have had should I have chose to go to school in Washington. I enjoy nearly every minute of my time here, no matter how trying the circumstances may be.

The Catholic tradition is to give up something that you enjoy during Lent. In a way, I have been in an extended lent since last August. I sacrificed my family, of my old friends, of home for the sake of my education. The gravity of this sacrifice is not an easy burden for me to bear. I thought I could just sever my ties to Washington when I left last fall, but I find myself thinking that this idea is wrong now more than ever. I can stand being away from home, but everywhere I go out here, I see reminders of home. The airport brings me back to the sights and sounds of Boeing Field, the southern end of the city evokes thoughts of Southcenter, I compare people to friends I knew at home.

Is it for the better? Yes, I have grown so much, and I think that the ways I have grown are beneficial in all ways. Do I wish to detach myself from my life in Washington? Never. I have too much.

I feel it needs to be stressed, if just once, how much of a big shift it is to just up and leave your old life behind 1500 miles away. Just so that people who do or did not have the sheer willpower, or rather courage, to step out of their comfort zone and try life in a new state, away from their friends and family understand what it is like. Maybe you will never understand, but I hope that I may have given you an idea of what it is like. I feel like people who make the sacrifices that I and others have made need to be recognized. To be appreciated by their peers. To receive some aid in maintaining the relationships that they once had that have been strained by the vast distances between them.