I walk the streets of my hometown, Martinez, and I start to notice some things that I’m going to miss.

Things like the antique shops with their old lamps, tables, chairs, clothes and the record player that you were trying to find from your parent’s time. Or bail bond shops that are on every corner of every street in downtown. Or the county jail with its “Please don’t talk to the inmates” sign and the courthouse that I visited on an eighth grade field trip. But I’m leaving. Maybe even upgrading to the state capital.

I’m going to miss my town and the excitement of being woken up in the middle of the night by helicopters over head, looking for the escapee from the prison. Or even the safety of my own room in my parent’s house.

My own room. Nothing will ever compare to my spacious room, decorated with my collection of stuffed animals, pictures I’ve taken of sunsets and the furniture that I picked out myself. Now I get the blessing of living in the dorms on campus. Talk about small! I couldn’t fit half the stuff from my room in there. Not only is the room small but, I’ll have to share it with someone else.

I’ll have no clue who she is or what she will be like until I move in. I can see myself. Walking into the building that I will from now on refer to as home, down a hall to a door I’ll have to find, only to open the door to a complete stranger. She’ll be staring at me with that ‘who are you look on her face’. “Um, hi I’m going to be living with you for the next year. Are you nice?” At which point I’m going to get that ‘boy are you crazy’ look.

It’s weird because my whole life I’ve never had to share my room. Yet I had friends come over and stay the night, but it was never more then a day or so before they went home. I guess the word ‘sharing’ never really rang true to me until now, since I have a brother instead of a sister at home. You know how scary it is moving to a city you’ve only visited before to a dorm that you’ve never seen, just to live with a stranger?

I could come back from class one day and she could be having sex with her boyfriend! It’s not just embarrassing for them either. What if she snores and keeps me awake all night? Who can really make it through class the next day with no sleep? I’ll be getting dirty looks from my professors the whole day and the ‘it’s not my fault’ excuse won’t work because this is college now.

Sac State is so much bigger than my high school campus. My leader told me, at orientation, that you could always tell who the freshmen were because they all carry around a map of the campus with them. I would too if I didn’t want to get lost or be late to my next class.

I admit I’m scared about living on campus and being away from everything that is familiar to me. I’ve lived at home my whole life with my family and my friends around me and now I’m going out on my own to a new city and school. I don’t know what to expect or how I’m going to do here but I’m going to give it my best shot and try my best to make it on my own.

Good-Bye Martinez Hello Sacramento!