Most students say that self-expression and personal meaning are the main reasons they got their tattoos. Sophie, a freshman at the University of Montana, said that she got her ink, an apple and a quote from Herman Hesse’s Siddhartha, just because it was something that she had always wanted. “The apple was kind of rebelling against my parents and asserting my identity, and the second was in reaction to another choice I made that I didn't want to forget,” she said. However, these choices weren’t made without forethought. “I waited almost a year for my first tattoo…I did a lot of research.”