Home
My first summer as a college student began with the bittersweet process of removing my things from my first-year dorm, into the first storage unit I purchased on my own (Tip: stay on the lookout for the deals facilities place year-round). I was lucky enough to have a mom who was willing to drive 10 hours up from Georgia to help me move my things and bring me back home. And because of that, I got to say a brief goodbye to the city I had come to adore whilst also showing its beauty to someone from back home
The first stop on our mini tour of Baltimore was the Inner Harbor where my mom made a beeline toward Ekiben to buy a seasonal crab sandwich she had first fallen in love with when we visited Baltimore for Blue Jay Day. We then tried and failed to go to the Maryland Zoo (Note: check the hours before you start driving) but ended up having a lovely time strolling through Druid Hill Park. We concluded our little adventure grabbing drinks at Equitea, a small matcha studio in Remington that has become one of her and my favorite spots in the area.
At home, it was graduation season. One of my cousins was graduating from high school and a friend was graduating from college. Ironically, the ceremonies were only a day apart, and I found myself in the surreal moment of seeing my past and future staring straight at me. One, preparing to be on their own in a new place for the first time, about to begin a four-year journey with an unknown end; and the other, experiencing the cumulation of four years’ worth of hard work.
I would say the highlight of being home was spending time with my younger brothers and cousins. I was shocked to see how much they’d grown in only a few months, but happy to find they hadn’t outgrown wanting to run around the yard playing hide-and-seek. My remaining 13 or so days at home were a mixture of frantic visitation, more games, and a blessed return to more than eight hours of sleep. And then, I was off to Rome.
Rome
I traveled to Italy for a Writing Seminars course, Exploring Rome as a Writer, taught by Poet and Professor Gabriella Fee. Monday through Thursday we would read pieces of prose and poetry and analyze the stylistic and technical choices of the authors; concurrently, we workshopped our own pieces that we wrote during the program.
On some weekends, we would go on class excursions to places of note across the city. My favorite trips were to Villa Adrianae and the Non-Catholic Cemetery. The Villa was beautiful, and the cemetery was full of love that could be found in the engraved messages on the headstones. In the midst of that, we found ourselves with quite a bit of free time during the week and on weekends when we didn’t have excursions or they finished early in the day.
On one occasion, we had just gotten back from Florence. It was late and we faced a choice: to take a taxi or to not take a taxi? Despite having to get up early the next morning, the six of us all felt restless. The walk was about an hour, but an hour walking through Rome felt like half of that. So, with the energy we had left, we began our journey.
What started off as a pleasant walk, chatting about our day and how we planned to prepare for the week, became a race to see who could walk the fastest. I sped up on the inclines in an attempt to catch up with my roommate who had managed to outpace us all. We arrived home tired but exhilarated and with different perspectives on who had won our little ‘race.’
What most readily comes to mind when I think about Rome are the times we spent, the nine of us, crowded around the kitchen table laughing and chatting, planning our weekend trips, playing ‘Flee the Facility,’ binge watching shows, the funny pictures with the picturesque backdrops.
All of that to say, 10-hour flights are not fun, but they are worth it. Though my legs ached as I exited the plane, I will never forget my first glimpses of Rome as I rode into the city, nor the following four weeks I spent there going on ‘side-quests’ with classmates-turned friends.
Following my stint in Rome, I flew back home to Georgia for just three hours before leaving again on a connecting flight. It was June 28, and for the next five weeks, I would be working in Baltimore as a Peer Leader for the First-Generation, Limited-Income (FLI) Network’s Hop-In program.
Hop-in
Hop-In is a free, five-week long summer program where a cohort of 48 incoming Johns Hopkins first-year FLI students from across the country come to live on campus, take classes, and familiarize themselves with campus resources. The primary goal is to give students an opportunity to begin building community before the start of the semester. My role, along with six other peer leaders, was to act as a mentor and social support for the cohort and to serve as an RA of sorts within the residence halls.
My own time in Hop-In is what I credit with kick-starting my closest friendships and putting me on the path to fostering my passion for mentorship. Having the opportunity to come back to the program as a peer leader was a surreal experience. Although it had only been a year since I was in their same position, I often found myself trying to recall the thoughts and emotions I had going into my first year and how they had changed. In some respects, I found that I was worried, confused, nervous, and excited about the same things. Other times, I was able to appreciate the differences in perspectives.
Although all of the students who participate in Hop-In are FLI, there is a vast range of experiences they bring to the table. I found myself learning just as much from my mentees as they were from me. ‘Graduating’ so to speak from the Hop-In program, you walk away with more than just knowledge about the world you will be walking into as a Johns Hopkins student, you also learn about the worlds your fellow peers are coming from.
Throughout the program I was able to watch the mentees build connections amongst themselves that have solidified into strong friendships. Now, I never go a day on campus without seeing at least one group of Hop-In students eating, studying, or just hanging out together. It makes my day to stop and chat with them (I even have classes with a few!); it’s great being able to do the same with members of my own Hop-In cohort, and to continue making memories beyond the five weeks we spent together.
Of all of the wonderful memories I made during Hop-In this summer, I think I will share the most terrifying one:
It was 11 p.m. on a Saturday night, and I had the check-in binder in hand, traveling through the residence hall to check my mentees into their rooms. But when I knocked on Suite T03, silence was my only reply. I knocked again and waited, starting to get worried, when slowly the door began to creak open. Inside I saw mostly darkness; the lights from the hallway barely illuminating the suite. I called out to the mentees who were supposed to be inside.
Suddenly, I heard cackling from behind the door. I jumped, but quickly settled, assuming that this was just another one of Suite T03’s games as this wasn’t my first rodeo with them.
“Haha, very funny,” I said, but before I could tell anyone to come out for check-in, a cabinet opened and something began crawling out. And at the same time, a pale hand slapped down upon the only area of the inside wall that the light reached.
I let out a screech that drew the mentees from the suit next door and flung myself back against the wall. I heard laughter and the lights came on to reveal three familiar, wide-smiling faces. As a huge horror movie fan, I couldn’t be upset. I found myself laughing along too.
Summer
“Restful” isn’t the word I would use to describe my summer, but it was certainly reinvigorating. From my cousin and friend’s graduations to my classmates in Rome, to my marvelous mentees, I found myself inspired at every turn. Everyone working hard in pursuit of their goals and living life to the fullest filled me with excitement for the upcoming semester.
Most importantly, my community has expanded. I’ve loved getting to see everyone from the summer on campus, stopping to chat and catch up, ask about classes and life back home; it’s a piece of summer warmth I’ll be able to take with me into fall.
