Finally, I was off to college. Thanks for some careful savings, I did not have to work during the first school year. Then, summer hit and it was time to work harder than ever. I continued working as a waitress at night, as a tennis instructor doing several mornings a week and worked as a secretary for a few hours in the afternoons. Being a little overzealous, I decided to also take a class at a community college. This class at the community college saved me $650. it was an exhausting summer and made me anxious to return to my relatively easy life at college.
During my second and third years of undergraduate schooling, I decided to work about five hours per week in the campus admissions office answering phones. This provided a little spending money and kept me from draining my savings. The overall situation looked hopeful as I approached my senior year as long as I could make as much money as I had the previous summer. That is when I decided to go to Israel to study for 3 weeks, I hesitated in making this decision and had just about to decide not to go because it would cost me $1,600 more to get the credits in Israel. About two weeks later my Mom called to tell me that I had $1,600 in the bank that I had forgotten about! One of my concerns about this trip was not only the cost, but the time it would take to make money; however, I made as much that summer in the ten weeks when I was at home as I had made during the fourteen weeks when I was at home the summer before. The way everything worked together to make this trip feasible was one of the most exciting things that have ever happened to me.
This experience has shaped me in many important ways. The first thing that I learned was the importance of a strong work ethic. Working long hours did a lot to mold my character and helped me learn the value of a dollar. It also made me learn how to craft creative solutions to difficult dilemmas. |