Bryant University’s campus is so small to the point where the longest walk you have to make is the five minutes to the sports stadiums. When I found out that the only plausible summer plan I had was to move back in with my parents, I didn’t really know what to think of it.
My past two summers have been spent in my favorite little state of Rhode Island where nothing is very far away. The beach was never more than a ten-minute walk from where I lived and I could ride my bike to work. All my friends from school were just a hop across a state line and I could be in their backyards. But now, instead of packing up my dorm room and driving 45 minutes south, I’ll be embarking on a road trip that will take me roughly 16 hours down the east coast to my new home in South Carolina.
Living so far from a place where the people you call your best friends, your sisters, and your loves can be difficult but it’s nothing to be scared of. There are so many ways that people can keep in touch nowadays. Living far away also gives you a great deal of opportunity to do a little more with your life, to explore things that you might not have in the past.
Being far away gives you extra time to work. It allows you to walk through life and look at the world a little differently. It allows you to grow independently. Yes, I am a little sad that I’ll be so far away from so many of the people I want to spend summer days at the beach and summer nights stargazing with, but I’m prepared to make my summer 1,000 miles away one to never forget.