As I take a couple moments to reflect upon my college experience here at Northern Michigan University, I realize that my expectations of a fun, charming, movie-like college life were met with the reality of stress and chaos. For me, college hasn’t always been just fun, sunshine and puppy dogs. Instead, it was often filled with lack of direction, frustration and tough decisions.

My college education began in the fall of 2013. I had many colleges to choose from, but since I grew up literally two blocks away from campus NMU seemed like the most logical choice. When “wildcat weekend” arrived, we all separated into the majors we wanted to explore. I wanted to pursue a degree in Early Childhood Development (ECD) because I love working with children. So, I went in a group with ECD and Elementary Education majors.

This was when I ran into my first roadblock: my primary interest was being discontinued for an undetermined period of time. I was advised to pursue classes with Elementary Education since I’d basically “get the same experience.” A week before classes began, I was already in a panic due to a sense of lack of direction.

Once set up in the Elementary Education program, I was given an adviser; she was kind, fun and someone I felt comfortable asking my many questions. However, promptly after orientation she retired, and my new adviser was very new, just like me—roadblock number two.

After a year of pursuing Elementary Education, I came to the realization that it wasn’t really the major for me. It’s a great major, don’t get me wrong, but it wasn’t what I wanted to do.

I continued my college education, but this time pursuing an associates degree in General University Studies. The thought of transferring occurred to me several times, and I figured if I had a two-year degree it would surely transfer, whereas individual credits may not. The stress and anxiety clouded many of the fun times until I finally found my calling here at NMU.

I graduated with my associate degree in 2015 and decided to continue on and get my Bachelor of Arts in Art and Design. Once I settled into my major, I found my adviser and professors very encouraging and things began to look up.

Then I found out, with two semesters left in my college career, I would be four credits short of graduation requirements; I was horrified. Another roadblock. I persevered and was successful in securing an internship over the summer that would satisfy the credit requirements. The challenges continued, as it was another difficult process. After several conversations, and weeks of talking with NMU administration, I was able to secure the credits.

The moral of my story, however, is not that my education here was completely awful. I have enjoyed many aspects of college life, despite all of the difficulties. I am proud to be a Wildcat and I realize that all of the experiences, good and bad, are making me stronger and preparing me for the “real world.” My advice to those reading this would be: don’t give up. The challenges make you stronger, the time goes by quickly, and the memories and friends you make along the way will be well worth the hassle.