My semester at UTNY was one of the most demanding and eye-opening chapters of my college journey. As a girl from Texas, adjusting to the fast pace and unfamiliar rhythms of New York City was both exhilarating and overwhelming. I balanced a full-time internship from 9 to 5 with evening classes—ranging from marketing to modernism in design/architecture and urban leadership—three nights a week from 6 to 9 PM. The schedule was intense, and there were moments when I felt stretched thin. But within that busyness, I found something profound: the beauty of my own solitude. Navigating the city alone taught me how to be present in the fleeting, ordinary moments—from riding the subway to people watching at Washington Square Park. I discovered new parts of myself—my resilience, independence, and capacity to embrace change. I came to see New York not just as a city, but as a mirror that reflected who I was becoming.