If someone told me four years ago that after school I would work at a newspaper in Wyoming, I would have called them crazy.

My goal was to work at a magazine in New York. I was going to strut down Times Square in Christian Louboutin pumps with a little dog in a doggy purse. That won’t happen . at least not yet.

I’m trading in my heels for hiking boots, and I’m OK with it because living by the mountains is another goal of mine. The only way I got here was because I had a plan; I left my options open, and I had plenty of goals set for myself.

That’s the big picture of college for me. But, there are plenty of small snippets about life I’ve learned that have helped me equally as much.

• Be truthful to yourself and never be someone you’re not.

• Wear shoes or slippers if you live with a fashion design major – there will always be pins stuck in the carpet waiting to penetrate your foot.

• The first night you hang out with a new roommate and wake up at the foot of their bed you know it was a good night and you’ll be good friends.

• There is someone exactly like you on this campus. They think how you do, like what you do and have almost the same past as you do.

• Use the basket instead of the cart when food shopping. You’ll spend less.

• Get rid of the people in your life who don’t add anything to it. It’s your life and you should be picky who you allow to affect it.

• Caffeine is a blessing.

• Open yourself to others and they’ll open themselves to you.

Even though I am excited to move, I am a little sad to leave Ohio. In reality, Northeast Ohio is the “Heart of it All” to me. I have grown up here, and throughout college have struggled, learned and grown into who I am today.

There have been amazing people who have surrounded me the last couple years who have helped me find the real me. From Stacey, my freshman roommate who always let me be silly and would join in, to Steph and Mal, my current roommates, who always make me laugh. And, always, Adam for helping me over the “mountain” rocks and never letting me fall back and hit my head, literally and figuratively. Even though there will be a lot of mountains, we’ll make it over them (at least all 52 14ers).

It makes me sad to think that I won’t see my friends or the people who are currently in my day-to-day life.

But I am excited to meet new people and learn new things from them.

Even though there have been great people around me the past four years, I am the only one who got me through college, and I am damn proud of it. I was my biggest fan . a close first just ahead of my ever-cheering parents.

It will be sad to see this chapter in my life close, but it’s supposed to be temporary. It won’t last forever, but the people who are supposed to be in my future will make it there.

Wyoming, here I come . Yee-haw!

Erika Kreider is a senior information design major

and a designer for the Daily Kent Stater. Contact her at [email protected].