Where DIDNT I go to College?

Today someone asked me where I went to college. I responded with, "Undergrad or graduate school?". Graduate school. Oh, that's easy! I went to UW-Madison, I told them. Then they asked the question I hate the most: "What about undergrad?". Ummm, not so easy. I always hate being asked this question. Most people are so proud of their Alma Mater and beam when telling others about where they graduated from. Me, not so much. Maybe this is because my undergraduate career was a little different than most.

Whenever I'm asked this question I say that I started at Marquette University and eventually graduated from UW-Milwaukee. People look at me funny for a few minutes and wait for me to explain. So, here goes. I started my freshman year at Marquette University. I loved it. LOVED IT! My freshman year I joined Pi Beta Phi, became involved in Hall Council, and played intramural soccer. I made some great friends and truly enjoyed being a freshman. I started sophomore year as a Resident Assistant in Cobeen Hall, was Hall Council Advisor, Program Assistant for the Center for Community Service, and a member of the International Marquette Action Program team in Belize. First semester Sophomore year was my favorite of all of college. I met Kelly and Lizzy who a few weeks into RA training became my better halves (or thirds). So if everything was so great, why in the world did I decide that second semester of my sophomore year I would leave? Well because I was in love, obviously (or so I thought at the time). I had been in a long-distance relationship with my high school sweetheart for a while and eventually we decided that if we were ever going to move forward in our relationship we should be at the same school. So, I packed my bags and moved to Minnesota.

I spent one semester at the University of Minnesota - Twin Cities. Why only one semester? Well, there are many reasons for that. The first is probably the most obvious: I am a Wisconsinite and I missed home, my family, and everything cheese far too much to be 6 hours away. The second reason: my highschool sweetheart and I were no longer sweet. Clearly we made a better long distance couple; it helped us to not see the obvious fact that we had both grown and changed a lot since high school. And the third reason: I went to Africa, fell in love with the area of service, decided to change my major from Medicine to Social Work, and needed a school with an undergraduate Social Work major. Cue the second transfer and third school - The University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. In my heart, I knew I wanted to transfer back to Marquette after realizing that Minnesota was a terrrrrible fit. Unfortunately, they didn't have my newly-chosen major. So I started my Junior year at UWM majoring in Social Work. And that is where I graduated from the next year.

Yes, I went to three different undergraduate schools. I had three different majors. I still graduated in four years, though. And I still had an amazing college experience. Now you can see why answering the question, "Where did you go to college?" can be quite daunting for me.

Oh, and in case you were wondering, of all those schools I went to, Marquette was my favorite :)