Moving out of your parents' house for the first time is both the most exciting step into adulthood and a scary path full of unknown and hard lessons waiting around every corner. From navigating new friendships to learning how to live independently, everything feels like a first in this new chapter of life.

I’ve written before about how university, for me, was quite a lonely experience. The movies and TV shows I watched growing up—depicting college or university as this “straight out of a movie” experience—set me up for a sore disappointment when I found myself unable to adapt to the fast-paced, extroverted lifestyle I expected. I found it hard to make friends, and even harder to keep them.

Whenever I wrap up with a semester, I have a terribly hard time reading. It seems counterproductive given that my entire degree is based around reading novels at an inhumane pace and pumping out 1500 word essays on whatever repeating prompt my professor handed out that week.