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When I set foot on a rainy UCLA campus last year, I was awed by the immense beauty of the 419-acre block I would later learn to call my home.

The unique brick buildings are like none other, and the hills (which I am sure we will come to hate in a few months) give the campus an extra dimension. It is beautiful in the rain, and as I discovered at Welcome Day, it is also beautiful in the sun.

I immediately noticed that there seemed to be a place for everyone, whether it is the Intramural Field, library or Bruin Plaza. With countless opportunities, I knew UCLA was somewhere I could fit in. It was somewhere that would allow me to expand my interests, make interesting friends and learn from some of the best professors in the country.

Upon finally signing the Statement of Intent to Register form, I felt an incredible rush of excitement. I couldn’t wait to go to college, to leave home and become independent.

But as I walked across the stage at my high school graduation, a wave of sadness came over me. There were about 200 people I would never see again. Granted I didn’t really know them very well, but I saw them around school and probably even had a class or two with some of them.

I reminisced about key events of my high school career – winning the field hockey championship two years in a row, making smoothies on the grass, and of course, attending (and sometimes not attending) classes.

Then it hit me. The next four years are going to be different. I won’t see my sister every day. I won’t be able to fight with my parents (in person) or hang out with my best friends.

These basic routines will be replaced with a world of the unknown: new friends, no parents and shared bathrooms. And to be honest, I am scared to death.

Change is one of those very ambiguous, often emotional and sometimes terrible things. It is scary to know that I am going to experience one of the biggest changes in my life, but I don’t know whether it will be good or bad. There is so much to plan but so much completely out of my control.

The anticipation of college is a bizarre combination of sadness and excitement. But among my confusion and emotion, I have come to realize one thing: No matter what happens in the next four years, I will still be myself.

I’ll attend 200-student classes, live in a cramped room with someone I don’t know, and be exposed to a whole new culture of people and opinions. I might hate it, but I will probably love it.

Despite every new experience, I will know who I am and where I came from. Those memories I am going to miss will still be a part of me because they helped me get to where I am today.

And where am I today? I am a high school graduate making the most of her last summer before college. But most importantly, I am a UCLA student.

And as UCLA students, we are all exceptional. We are some of the top scholars, athletes and performers in the country. We are the only UCLA Class of 2010. So let’s make it the best and enjoy our next few years.

Diekneite is a first-year pre-political science student.