It’s been eight months since I left boarding school. Had you asked me two years ago if I would go to boarding school I would have told you no. NO—me? Boarding school, never. Even months before boarding school I was skeptical, trying to avoid the application. I didn’t see myself in Portsmouth, Rhode Island.

Perhaps what bothered me the most was dress code. How could I go from bright patterned African fabric all year long to Lily Pulitzer during the first weeks of Fall Term and all of Spring Term. From handmade Maasai beaded sandals to Tory Burch sandals. The list only goes on Sperry’s, Vineyards Vine, Patagonia. Portsmouth Abbey School was the epitome of preppy.

I adapted, I finally accepted, I graduated. And now in college here I am looking back, comparing. Being in boarding school senior year was an adjustment and a major culture shock. Imagine my confusion when I showed up at dances and the music wasn’t “Coller la Petite” or “Azonto”. Now I know that, that culture shock prepared me for college.

It prepared me for dorm life. The small things like waking up slightly early to get your favorite shower. The one with the water pressure that feels the most like home. It prepared me for food made for 300 people or more (STAY AWAY FROM THE MEAT LOAVES). It introduced me to some really amazing people from the students to faculty. Strong independent men and women.

Looking back eight months later. I miss it. I miss the traditions that came with this boarding school lifestyle. I miss walking back from dinner and stepping really close to the holy lawn, this huge patch of grass that was right in front of the church. No one stepped on the holy lawn until Commencement. Imagine the thrill of stepping on the holy lawn and not being caught. I miss Thursdays. In between AP Calculus and Drama the church talks. I miss standing up when my English teacher would show up to class. We would recite the “Our father” in Latin after he said “oremus” or “let us pray”.

At the end of the day, it was such a blessing to be part of Portsmouth Abbey’s Class of 2016.