They were very expensive, and I didn't see how I was going to go. I didn't think about loans, and I didn't think I wanted any. So, I looked inward, and did the multi-university application for Florida, checking only FSU and FIU.
I knew a bunch of my high school friends were going to UF, and that was enough of a deterrent. I wanted to try making new friends after being with the same people for, a good number of them, almost four years. I wanted new experiences, especially since I'd felt so… disenchanted that high school life wasn't like Clueless. I wanted to try remaking myself again.
I wanted to be away from my family, yet close enough that I could visit comfort when I felt like it.
I'd become a burgeoning homosexual who'd only just begun to explore things and that would be another plus, going to university. Ultimately, I chose FIU because I felt I'd be closer to the "gay life." And I did grow in that regard. I had a number of experiences about which I could probably write a book, and I helped form, and eventually became a brother of, my Delta Lambda Phi chapter.
I became an Anthropology degree graduate. I'd increased my Japanese ability. I'd even started my Masters in Linguistics, though I didn't follow through with my first semester (something which probably has left a dark mark for me with many of the faculty). I had promise.
I just feared debt, especially. Looking back, they probably would have helped me had I given them the opportunity. I was so insular.
But I chose FIU because I believed it would grant me a trove of memories and experiences about which I can reflect, and would allow me to grow as a person.
That it did.
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