My summer was mostly me moving from my family’s home. I lived at home all through undergrad, and it was only now that I moved out for grad school. It was very bittersweet for me, because I’m very close with my family. In so many ways, it was really hard for me to no longer be all living under the same roof, especially with my dogs, but it felt like the next step that I needed to take in my life.

I’ve been really enjoying the agency and freedom that it’s given me, but it also really makes you reflect on the transitional period of being an undergrad in college from 18 to 21, where you’re trying to figure yourself out and trying to grapple with adulthood.

I feel like it’s been a very transformative summer for me, trying to find like my independence and find my new normal outside of the normal that I’ve lived for two decades of my life.