If you’re a college student like me, you’ve realized that our time studying and working is one of the most transformative times of our lives. Our opinions and desires are constantly changing, sometimes with the wax and wane of the moon. Minors and majors are added and dropped on a pin, and it’s during this time that we make some of our most critical life decisions.

Like getting a tattoo, which I did.

College is a time when many students get tattoos for the first time. A lot of students will have some disposable income—though not much—and without their parents hawk-like gaze bearing down on them 24/7, they’ll finally take the plunge and get their first tattoo, sometimes even as a means to rebel against their parents.

I’ve wanted to get a tattoo for a few years now. It wasn’t ever really to rebel or anything; my younger sister got her first tattoo before I did, and my dad even had his ears pierced when he was my age. I wanted to get the tattoo of something that I really loved and cared about, that I could express through ink without any “regerts.” So I finally took the plunge and got one.

My main concern about getting a tattoo was health, obviously. There’s always horror stories of someone getting hepatitis or some disease from a tattoo. But it turns out it’s very rare under the right circumstances.

“Getting a disease like hepatitis is very rare if you go to the right place,” explained Sam Ross, co-owner of Tattoo Coven here in Springfield. Sam is also the artist who did my tattoo. “Real tattoo artists will clean all of their equipment between sessions, and the needles we use are one-use only, so they’re disposed of immediately after and safely taken away to be disposed of.”

When my fears had been put aside we started the actual process of getting the tattoo on me. It was all a lot simpler than I thought it might have been; Sam stenciled the design that I wanted onto my arm, erasing and re-drawing the stencil until we were both satisfied with the placement and size. From there I got sat down in the chair, and the tattoo started.

I’d heard for a long time that tattoos hurt a lot when you got them; I’d also heard from other people that they could barely feel anything. From my experience, I can tell you that both groups of people have exaggerated; the tattoo didn’t feel as bad as I had expected, but it also didn’t feel as bad as I had hoped. The only way I can explain it is if somebody is running the tip of a ballpoint pen along a sunburn; unpleasant, but not “I’m going to die,” painful. Just make sure you have a stress ball on hand.

The time it took from when I sat down in the chair to walking out of the door with a bandage on my arm was only about 20 minutes, much shorter than I had expected. All in all, the experience was pleasant, and the pain minimal. I’d wholeheartedly recommend you get a tattoo if you’re considering it, or at the very least get a consultation with an artist to talk it through. But be warned, once you get one, you’ll definitely want another. I’m already planning my next.

Article written by Ryan Smith.