Author Archives: jessica.lam1

Since I don’t know how to describe myself, I think I’ll just say that I love my family. Without them, I wouldn’t be who I am today and I wouldn’t have been able to experience certain things.

I usually spend most of my summers visiting my family. I look forward to the summertime because it means that I can finally get out of the city for a while. With the exception of Hong Kong, my family and I traveled by car to our destination. You know what that means: road trip! I love road trips, except when I have to go to the bathroom and there’s nothing in sight for the next 40 miles. My dad’s usually at the steering wheel with my mom at his side, whose job is to keep him awake and sing along to the CDs she brings with her. My brother brings his big headphones so he won’t have to hear me talk, but my job is to be an annoying sister. Our usual destination was Canada, where my uncle and cousins lived, but I loved Michigan, where the rest of my mother’s side of the family lived. Don’t get me wrong- I love Canadians, but something about Michigan draws me in.

Last summer was the first summer I spent without my mom, dad, and brother. My dad couldn’t get vacation days, my brother was too busy with college stuff to go on vacation, and my mom just didn’t feel like going anywhere. I decided that I wanted to do something with my last summer before college, so I thought about going to Michigan. Of course, my mom didn’t let me go by myself even though my dad already agreed to it. I begged and annoyed her for at least two weeks before she finally gave in. It was a great experience, even though it did get a little scary at night (I took the bus there). When I arrived, my aunt and cousin picked me up and I stayed at my grandparents’ house. I was alone this time, so I had to do things my mom would normally do for me, like doing my own laundry. Since one of my aunts thought I might be too bored by myself, she tried to bring me places to have fun. It was the first time I ever went to a music festival and ate at Krispy Kreme (a donut place that is a thousand times better than Dunkin’ Donuts). It was also the first time I went on a boat and chilled near a lake. It was a great experience for me to start acting like an adult but still have fun at the same time. I learned new things, like how not to be bored when watching a hockey game. At times, I missed my best friends, but that wasn’t anything that the internet and phone couldn’t fix. I loved how pretty Michigan was, and it was definitely a vacation I needed to take before school started.

My family expects me to do well in college this year, so (hopefully) I won’t let them down.