Finals week is upon us here at the University of Georgia, and all I can keep thinking about is that if I hadn’t made the decision to stay for another semester, I would be saying goodbye to so many people that I feel that I have only begun to get to know.

It seems as if I’ve only been here for one month, instead of five. I’m pretty sure that’s because of the weather – it hasn’t really changed that much. We’re still regularly experiencing 70-degree days. It’s actually making me yearn to be home for a white, snowy Christmas.

Also, during the last few days, I’ve realized how lucky I am to be here. There are so many people I know that are so anxious to leave Iowa, but aren’t quite sure how to establish themselves in a place where they know absolutely no one. All I can tell them is that they just have to have courage and a completely open mind to embrace all cultures.

When I first came to Athens and moved into Morris Hall, all I wanted was to be back home where things were familiar, where I could laugh with friends who knew all of my inside jokes and receive a friendly hug. I never thought I would get this here because everyone was from a place I had no clue about. I quickly learned that’s not true.

No matter what nationality a person is, we are all essentially the same. I saw that firsthand every day with random people just congregating in rooms, just hanging out, talking and laughing. We all watched the same movies, listened to the same music, wore the same clothes, partied the same way and danced the same way.

The unity that we all experienced especially came out during Sept. 11 events. No matter what country a person was from, we all felt invaded.

Coming to Georgia for my junior year was probably the best decision I’ve ever made. I was becoming restless at the end of my sophomore year – I felt like I was destined to be in my home state for the rest of my life and be sentenced to community journalism in a small town for the rest of my life. That was something I didn’t want to do, but I didn’t think I had what it took to make it in the big city.

Well, things have changed now. I’ve been out on my own, I’ve made new friends without the help of friends I already had. I’ve lived in a part of the country I had never been in before, and I’ve survived, and I’ve thrived.

Just recently, my internship prayers were answered and I was offered a job with the Dow Jones Newspaper Fund. Again I will be headed to a different part of the country that I’ve never visited and I will be expected to perform in a job that I really don’t have a lot of experience in. But that’s not going to stop me.

This challenge of working for the Richmond Times-Dispatch in Richmond, Va., is exciting because I know it will open doors for me that I never knew existed.

My experience, being 1,136 miles away from everything I know has also given me a deeper appreciation of home, friends and family. They’ve supported me whenever I felt homesick or needed guidance. When people ask me where I’m from, I’m not ashamed to tell them where I’m from because I know that there are some really great people there that I love to come home to whenever I’m there.

I’ve been asked many times by friends here in Athens, professors and even co-workers and the board of directors of The Red & Black to transfer here and receive my journalism degree at the University of Georgia.

But every time I get that offer, I always tell them not only did I promise to come home, but I also want to go back. And though I may be moving out here after graduation to pursue a career and a post-graduate life, I know that I’ll always call Iowa my true home.

Amber Billings is a junior in journalism and mass communication from Sioux City. She is at the University of Georgia through the National Student Exchange program. She encourages everyone to look into the program.