Austin was awesome and getting to experience the first real year of adulthood in a great city with some of my best friends was even better! But Austin was expensive and overwhelming, it never fully felt like home; It was so new and so big and while it was fun at first I think I never got used to it. Everything was always changing and I felt overwhelmed by the sheer amount of things there was to do. I would feel guilty for wanting to spend time alone or sleeping in because I felt like I should be at the 7am yoga in the park or checking gout the next new drink spot.My boyfriend was still back in BAMA and it was a 12hr drive or a $600 trip each time I wanted to see him for the weekend. When I got to Austin I wasn’t very good about making friends outside of my circle and that started to get to me.

I had an awesome group of girls that I lived with, my best friends from college, but I was always a little lonely even though I wasn’t alone.After almost exactly a year I decided I was going to move back to Tuscaloosa, AL. I still have some friends here, my boyfriend is working 3 hours away, and as much as I was ready to graduate and find something new a year ago, it will always feel like home here. I realized in my decision to leave Texas that for a while I hadn’t been my usual fun loving, positive self. I was constantly working and when I wasn’t I wanted to just chill in my room. I didn’t want to make a ton of new friends or go out a ton. I couldn’t tell you why, I’m not even sure myself. All I know is that it was my time to leave.