Duluth, MN

We did it.

At 9:00pm, we pulled into the campus of The College of St. Scholastica, my new home. Mom stayed with me in the city for a few days as we played tourist and set up my new place. The first night we were in the apartment (I'm a live in staff member, so I have a spacious apartment in the residence hall for the first year students), was also the Halloween Dance, which, as you can imagine, equals pure chaos in the hall.

As I sat in my room (which isn't really sound proof), and heard the screams, laughs and running up and down of the hall, my mom just looked at me and said, "are you sure?"

I didn't know the answer. Yes, I was sure that I wanted to enter the 'real world,' and I was sure that I wanted a paying job. But I wasn't sure if I was ready to be over 3,000 miles from my parents, and in a new place where I literally knew no one.

Instead, I just nodded yes, and we went to bed.

Once my mom left, and I was officially alone in a new place and a new job, I really began to feel like an adult. It hit me that I had graduated and was no longer "Katie W., Student Body President," or "Katie the Rugby Player," or "Katie (fill in the blank)." I was just Katie Wieliczkiewicz, the new kid on the job who didn't really have any professional experience.


As you can imagine, this is a pretty scary thing to go through, trying to figure out who you are and needing to redefine your identity, and starting fresh with everything about your life.

It was a lot at once, but I know my experience wasn't really unique, this was, finally, the beginning of being a graduate.