Much to my parents dismay, I’ve never been the type to get homesick. I’ve always been the kid that moves forward quickly without second thoughts. I’m not wary of a new circumstance and have always enjoyed an adventure. I've always known that, no matter where I go and whatever I decide to do, my family will support me. Maybe that’s the reason I decided not to go home the summer after my freshman year.

This summer I stayed on campus rather than going home. However, my living situation wasn't what I had expected. Instead of staying in the dorm that my friends and all my other classmates were, I stayed in a dorm set aside for summer interns in the area, which happened to be on the other side of campus completely. I learned a lot in my intern dorm, from the moment I arrived and was given the summer program number instead of my campus’ Public Safety, to the day I moved out without having to get a room check. I lived in a dorm with great air conditioning, terrible Wi-Fi and too long of a walk to my friends. Staying here was different than my freshman year had been: I had no meal plan, no RA, access to a kitchen, a car and two friends. School was a completely different place.

Looking back, I can see easily what I learned the most from. The most obvious to me is my job. Most people start their first jobs while they're at home, not 392 miles away. So, when I started I was entirely out of my comfort zone and struggling to keep up, but now I am more confident and definitely more efficient than I have ever been before. As cliché as it sounds, my job made me want to work harder and be better, it helped me regain my sense of purpose and made me think about my career goals. Staying for my job helped me realize what type of person I wanted to be, something I had been struggling with since the day I left for college.

The second and most unexpected thing from this summer is how much I have grown up since even the start of summer. I’ve done things that I never thought I would be able to do until I was older, such as dealing with a broken laptop and unhelpful tech help which led me to more phone calls than I have ever had in my life. If I had stayed at home, I would have slept until my parents woke me and just golfed like every other summer before it. Finally, I learned how to interact with people who were not like myself, whether it be an adult in my workplace or an intern in my dorm. Before I could easily interact, but could not connect with people that I couldn’t easily relate to, but now I find myself looking for similarities rather the differences.

Out of all the choices I have made this year, staying on campus this summer was the best one by far.