I’ve never stepped foot on a college campus till this past August. It was one of the most overwhelming and emotional experiences I have ever encountered.

My neighbor, Evelyn, has a daughter who was accepted into more than three Ivy League schools and turned it all down for her “home,” the University of Michigan. Evelyn always talks about how she always took her daughter to U of M ever since she was a child, and she fell in love with it. The university held her daughter’s future and she saw it. She saw herself walking to class, joining clubs, and going to sporting events. But most importantly, she saw Evelyn grasping her future, her dream. “That is the importance of going to visit a college,” Evelyn declared. So I did.

Peer pressured into signing up, I planned on taking a weekend trip to Chicago to look at universities with my family. We scheduled three tours, packed, and drove out of Michigan.

The first university was in an urban-city setting. It was surrounded by towering buildings and the beeping and honking of impatient people who need to learn how to slow down.  It was simply average in my eyes. It looked great, but it didn’t feel special like Evelyn said it would.

So we moved onto the next college. To be honest, I didn’t expect much, I was beginning to feel as if it all going to be “eh.” My parents and I parked the car and headed towards the administration office. One minute your view is covered with towering building, but the next, your eyes lock view into the deepest, clearest lake. Stepping foot onto campus, all I could look at across from us stood a lake, Lake Michigan. It was unreal how close the campus was to the lake. It was incredibly welcoming and gorgeous. I felt as if I was transported somewhere else, truly.

I don’t know what it was, whether it was the lake, the closeness felt, even though we were deep in downtown, or how overwhelming it was. To be honest, I began breaking down and crying. I cried, and cried, and cried. My dad glanced at me and just smiled and rubbed my back comforting. “This is it,” my mother whispered, tears gleaming in his eyes. “This is your home.”

A college visit doesn’t have to be as dramatic or emotional as the one I had, but it is an experience every prospective college freshman needs to go through. The experience brings the idea and dream to life, it flashes your future in front of you, giving you a glimpse of what it would be like. You’ll know.  You’ll know if it is home.