A Southern Summer

When I first applied for the internship in Oak Ridge, I planned on living in a small Tennessee town with a typical southern history and country roots. Having relatives that live in the state, I am more than familiar with the common Tennessee people and their southern ways. Being a kid from the north, raised in the suburbs of Philadelphia, this southern way of life was actually something I longed for. Quiet nights on the porch as the sun set below the Appalachians, country music blaring on the radio, and that down home southern hospitality just seemed like the perfect way of life.

I had the opportunity to go anywhere in the country, from the tropical paradise of Maui to the glacial shores of Alaska. Although I may be kicking myself in another nine weeks for not making these choices, I still feel that a southern summer will suit me just fine. Hawaii and Alaska are great places, don't get me wrong, but I want to be able to experience these places for the first time with people that I care about. Tennessee offers the fantastic opportunity to experience amazing sites while also doing a little bit of soul searching.

That's probably what this summer is about more than anything else, searching my soul. After three years of college, everything becomes pretty hectic between classes, internships, scholarships, and the everyday hassles. With all of this piling on you at once, you start losing sight of what is truly important. By taking a nine week hiatus away from all that is familiar, I hope to recharge and come back a person who knows where he wants life to take him. Thoreau had this epiphany almost 165 years ago when he went to live alone beside Walden Pond and take in natures full beauty.

"I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived."
-Thoreau

I believe the south, Tennessee in particular, will allow me to face the essential facts of life and replenish my resources for the long and enjoyable road ahead.

By picking this internship, I am also killing two birds with one stone. I have a passion for field research, and I will gain valuable experience this summer doing just that. I could think of no better way of enlightening both the mind and the soul.

I think this is a good song to end with(even though it's about a river in Nova Scotia). It still has that whole transcendental theme.