August 2015; 1,996 miles; junior year. Naturally, moving in the middle of high school was entirely unappealing to me. Not seeing my best friends for months on end, not visiting my grandparents and uncle whenever I felt lonely: unimaginable. I could not fathom leaving the only place I ever had the blessing to call “home”. I abhorred the idea of living in the midst of the stereotypical "traditional" views of the "uneducated" Southerners. The only experience I had with “real Southerners” was the cowboy shop located on the main street of my town; I was not looking forward to people like that. As any emotionally unstable teenager would do, I combatted the move until the minute my plane took off from the ground, including locking myself in …show more content…
I began the job hunt millions of people undertake every day, applying anywhere and everywhere that was hiring. Unfortunately, not everywhere called back; few places were interested in a 16 year old worker. Eventually, I secured one job at an ice cream store- later, a second one at a restaurant. I worked them both simultaneously for my entire junior year, always ready to be on call and learn proper work ethic. Instead of spending the money made from these jobs like my former self would have done, I put it away in a bank. I wanted to save my money for important purchases, like a car, and not waste it on trivial mall trips with my friends. I even obtained my first debit card to manage my checking account better! I decided to challenge myself more with school, opting to take multiple AP classes and the rest honours. In my prior school, Advanced Placement classes were not available until junior year, and we were limited in our choices. Conversely, my new school had dozens of AP to choose from. Although I was nervous about the amount of work I was about to sign myself up for, now was not the time to slack off; junior year, after all, is the most important and most