My experience as a Cuban immigrant brought me a very concrete idea of change after moving to the United States. I came to believe that any other life-altering event from then on would have little significance relative to the impact that had produced on me—if it wasn’t a huge change, then it was no change at all.

After this summer, however, my idea of change has become much more abstract and realistic. In the past two months only, I have found myself living in three different locations for extended periods of time: Cambridge, Miami and New York. I have found myself making the transition from the life of a student into the life of a worker and again into the life of a daughter and sister. Even now as I write my final ACT entry, a pile of luggage sits in the corner of my bedroom, awaiting the next back-to-school flight tomorrow morning.

I have to admit that I underestimated the degree of mobility that has invaded all aspects of my life. In college, everything from social relationships to housing arrangements are always varying. A college student has the flexibility to drop and add courses, to fly to countries through study-abroad programs, to switch majors and career tracks. As an intern, I experienced no less change. I worked in several different departments at different times with different responsibilities and supervisors. At home, I am no longer the oldest daughter to my parents but rather their best friend and confidante.

For a young student or professional living in the United States, change has become an unavoidable phenomenon, and as a foreign and immature student, my initial reaction to this phenomenon was resistance. In the same way that I yearned to return to Cuba during the first months of my stay in this country, I never had faith in my possibilities to attend a school like Harvard or to secure an internship so early into my college career. I never saw myself abandoning my parents at 18 years of age either, or abandoning the idea to pursue a major in economics and instead embrace history and literature as my main educational choices. But I soon learned that my resistance did not translate into dislike for the outcome of change, but rather into fear of venturing into the unknown.

All my new experiences have taught me to appreciate the importance of any transformation. I have learned indeed, that though there can be growth without change, there cannot be change without growth. I have learned that change is bound to be positive as long as I myself am the driver of that change and as long as I pursue it with conviction and enthusiasm. Today I can faithfully say that I have matured into a better student and person. Had it not been for the varying path of my steps, though, I would have remained stagnant and ignorant of the boundless opportunities that have been presented to me and from which I have tried to pick carefully.

I begin my sophomore year in college with the same innocent illusion I had when I first crossed Harvard’s gates into its beautiful yard. I am ready to confront the awaiting novel experiences with optimism and courage, trusting that I already have gathered the tools to make them successful ones. It is my hope that through my entries, through all the different occurrences I have narrated, I have conveyed to you the same passion towards life that I now feel, when I am finally able to value all life’s sides, and not just the bright one. Because even a negative change can contribute to growth, and growth itself is the ultimate reason to be happy.