If one paragraph or a few short sentences could sum up my feelings for the past few years it would be just that. "She needs wide open spaces" A hit song by the Dixie Chicks, compelling feelings and aspirations to get out on your own, to be totally independent and get away. To walk away from the everyday life and environment you have grown to adapt yourself of. Although stakes being high, in reference to leaving family and friends it will be well worth the possible disappointment that may follow.

How important is it to leave your hometown, your friends, your family and the life you have sp

To live in a "dreaded" dorm with complete strangers, to share shower stalls and restrooms with a floor full of people you have never met in your life. To wake up at 7:00am to walk to early classes after staying up all hours of the night studying for yet another political science exam. Welcome to a world full of sleepless nights and endless responsibilities. E-mail becomes your second language, asleep by 2:30 am is an early night, procrastination is an art form, Instant Messenger becomes an addiction, one meal a day is standard and nothing is clean unless its family weekend and freshman orientation.

Throughout my years in public education, there always seemed to be someone to look after my best interests. There was always my mother to wake me up for school on time, and to provide me with lunch money. She was always there to help me with my homework (until I reached about eighth grade and even she didn't have a clue), and, of course, to put me back in line when she thought I was out of it. There were always teachers who assured me that what they were teaching would be of endless value to me throughout the rest of my life, and would surely help me in college. Questions such as "What does the child, Pearl, symbolize in Nathaniel Hawthorne's novel, "The Scarlet Letter?"" may very well be asked during a job interview someday, and that the Quadratic Formula would indeed become a part of my everyday life. Looking back now, it makes me wonder if they had ever actually been to college themselves.

The sensation I had down there for those few days was so refreshing. Arizona States campus is in better terms a 'Club-med' for students. Can you imagine being on vacation and never leaving? Well if not then go to Tempe Arizona and walk around with an ASU student, they will tell you that several times. Other then the leisure factor to going there next year, academically Arizona State ranks in the top ten in the country for each major they offer. Its not only a very credible school but its beautiful, laid back and an altogether good time. After visiting Arizona State there is no question in my mind, in the simplest terms, or most convenient definitions, that going there is my calling.

in my pajamas to run across the street to class seems great to me. This entire lifestyle is all that I want and Miami Middletown is hardly an ultimatum.

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Welcome to the land where coffee beans reign and Metabolife rules. Welcome to college. As awful as it may all sound, I fantasized about this life as soon as I entered my sophomore year and still long for it all now.

Spirit Week, a time of social union, pep rallies, and ridiculous clothing that was somehow meant to show support for a football team who hasn't in over a decade won a title and manages to hold a bottom ranking in our Division 1 program, was looked upon with the usual apprehension, but with a sense of respect. Although I was ready for the big time, college, where every day would be a new experience in freedom and every night would be a new experience in severe alcoholism.

My weekdays are always long and to say the least tedious. Driving every day back and forth from Beavercreek to Middletown became a dreaded chore and I hate every minute of it. I started out with a brand new 2000 Honda Civic my senior year and on the first day of college, with only 5,000 miles and as of now there are over 30,000 miles on it. I have run my car into the ground practically. Visiting my friends away at their schools has most defiantly contributed to that factor though. Any free time I have, I am in a far away city living it up with my friends who have the privilege

Some common words found in the essay are:
Miami Middletown, Tempe Arizona, University Ohio, Spirit Week, Instant Messenger, , Honda Civic, School School, Wright University, Dixie Chicks, miami middletown, community college, miami university, friends family, attending miami middletown, 'going away', school definitely, wide spaces, tempe arizona, wright university, circle friends,
Approximate Word count = 2487
Approximate Pages = 10 (250 words per page double spaced)