Leaving for college was one of the best things I ever did, but it was far from easy. I had to leave behind my cozy home, where I had spent the last 18 years, and go to a rainy, strange place that I once thought of as “independence,” all shiny and new, and now dreaded. All I could think was that I had to become a college student in the span of an hour-long plane ride—my pockets and fridge would soon be empty as I sat in a dark room alone without any friends. These pessimistic thoughts were all I could think of as I walked around my house, my home and sanctuary, taking pictures and sobbing. It was a really mature last day in Boise.

Two days later, my dad’s kiss goodbye wasn’t any easier. Teary-eyed and nervous, I turned around and headed back into my dorm, my new home. All that was running through my mind was what my dad had been saying for the past summer (actually, for the past 18 years): “I’m just a phone call and plane ride away.”

Then came Orientation. The 10-day, never-ending, whirlwind adventure that is one of the hardest things in the world to describe. In the first five minutes, I met probably 10 different people who, despite our diverse backgrounds, were in the exact same situation that I was: We knew nobody and were completely lost. After four days of various “get to know you” games, I left for Camp Parsons for a couple days of good old-fashioned camping. Despite my Idaho roots, I’m not the most outdoorsy person in the world, and I was a little nervous about being in the sticks with a bunch of strangers and no showers. Two hours later, when the bus stopped and I looked outside at the camp, my nerves settled. I saw our Passages leaders. My freshman year, Passages had a “space camp” theme, and as I looked out the bus window, I saw all the upperclassmen dancing around, dressed head to toe in outfits that included crazy headpieces, aviators, and my personal favorite, tight, silver spandex.

I had a choice: I could smirk, call it all lame, and sulk for the next couple of days, or I could join them, laughing, dancing, and having fun. It wasn’t a really hard decision. A common theme throughout Passages is “taking off your cool hat,” and I quickly figured out that’s exactly what I had to do to benefit at all from this experience. Once that epiphany hit me, I jumped into Passages, freshman year, and college in general head first, without looking back.

Passages has not only given me some amazing memories (sleeping under the stars with friends, jumping into the freezing water together for that fateful swim test, laying on the dock, listening to the Beach Boys and Billy Joel, being such a cliché and absolutely loving it), but it also helped me understand a little more about who I was and what I wanted out of my college experience. I figured out that I could make it independently, that I would survive, and most importantly, that I didn’t have to take life too seriously. I discovered that I wasn’t subtracting my home, friends, and family from my life by coming to Puget Sound, I was simply adding to it. College is going to have some hard times (midterms, finals, papers), but if you remember to balance the difficulty with fun, like meeting your best friends, having goofy inside jokes and memories, making mistakes and laughing at them, you can make it. College, and life in general, is not supposed to be so serious and that is one of the most important lessons I’ve learned here at Puget Sound.