I’m Not from LA, but I Stayed Here Over the Summer

By Donal Buckley

Going into my junior year, I knew I wanted to start making the most of my summers. With only two left, it was important for me to find an internship or some sort of career-advancing opportunity. As someone who’s heavily considering staying in Los Angeles after graduation, it was important for me to find said opportunity down here. The only problem was that I’m from Portland, not LA, so staying here over the summer would require more effort than it would if I tried to find a job back home.

The first question was, what was I going to do down here? After weeks of applying to different internships, it felt like I was tossing my resume and cover letters down a black hole. Eventually, around the end of February, I received an email from USC Dornsife highlighting the Gateway Internship Program. Exclusively for Dornsife students, this program is designed to give students a paid internship, alumni mentor, and events to attend over the summer. The end goal is for students to get a better idea of the career opportunities they’d like to pursue after college and teach them how to navigate the professional world, such as the importance of networking, grad school, and more. After happening upon this opportunity, I applied, interviewed, and received an internship with the USC Dornsife Office of Advising. The value of this program is not just in the internship, but also in the connections you make and information you learn along the way. For many people like myself, it was our first professional internship.

Now that I had a reason to stay in LA, I also needed a place to stay. Thankfully, my friend was looking for someone to sublet his apartment, so finding summer housing came easier than expected. Once my internship and housing situation were locked in, it was official: I was having an LA summer.

BMO Stadium

But there was one more bump I had to smooth out. Initially, I wasn’t given many hours with my internship: 1.5 days in person, to be exact. So to make the stay worth it — socially and financially — I needed to find another job. If you’ve tried looking for part-time work in the last few months, you’ll understand that it feels like employers are lying when they say they’re hiring. But after applying for about 15 jobs, I eventually landed a retail position at BMO Stadium. Having to only work on game days, this job ended up pairing perfectly with my internship.

I had somehow gone from unemployed to double employed in a month, and I was set for the summer. Aside from work, though, it was also important for me to find other things to occupy my time with. Most of my friends went home for a majority of the summer, so I had anticipated that I’d be spending a lot of time alone. But I realized, in the past two years, I hadn’t taken much time to explore the city. I could finally remedy that.

After familiarizing myself with LA’s public transit system, I discovered a new passion: solo day trips. A stigma that I used to hold was that it was embarrassing to go out by yourself. Everywhere you go, people are in groups, so I felt like the odd one out when I was by myself. But one day in June, I decided to bite the bullet, strap on my backpack, and finally explore Griffith Observatory. It had been a place I wanted to explore ever since I first came down here, but never found the opportunity to.

Griffith Observatory

Once I realized that going places by myself wasn’t as unthinkable as I thought, I found myself traveling around LA on the regular — I explored Burbank, visited Pasadena for the first time, and even caught a sneaky afternoon screening of Despicable Me 4. Truth is, nobody notices if you’re by yourself, and even if they do, no one actually cares. Going out by yourself is for you, not anybody else. With college getting busier every semester, sometimes we forget to spend time with ourselves. Especially without class, it was therapeutic exploring on my own. I’d walk around new places, take pictures, and get lost in my thoughts. With a busy semester ahead, I’m glad I was able to treat myself well before the onslaught of work ahead.

Even though I was able to spend a good amount of time by myself this summer, I was thankful that a few of my friends were here for some time as well. One of my biggest fears with spending the summer away from home was the loneliness. There’s only so much time I can spend by myself before missing my friends and family. When I spent time with my friends, I was able to explore new places and attend events during the summer months that I’d normally be at home for. For example, I attended LA’s famous pride parade as well as picnicked at Venice Beach on July 4. I even had time to go to places I hadn’t had the time to explore yet, like Rodeo Drive, Melrose Avenue, and other shopping centers. One of my friends and I even snuck in a kayaking trip with sea lions at Marina Del Rey.

Kayaking in Marina Del Rey

Overall, the summer in LA treated me well, not just for the professional opportunities, but for the opportunity to feel more connected to the city as well. Weekly trips to new cafes after becoming fluent in public transit gave me more places to take my friends and family the next time we need somewhere to eat.

I also learned not to rely on restaurants when I needed a bite to eat. Now that I’m living off campus, it’s my first time without a meal plan. Had I not cooked for myself over the summer, I’d be learning how to provide for myself on top of the overwhelming coursework. My time over the summer wasn’t just fun, it was valuable, too.

Being away from home, though, is not for the faint of heart. As valuable as the summer was, it took away three months I could’ve spent with my family, who I already don’t see often from being down here throughout the year. Thankfully, I was able to go back and visit them, but I still felt fomo when I missed out on both Mother’s and Father’s Day. It was a tradeoff I had to make, but overall, I’m grateful for the opportunity to spend the summer in Los Angeles. It was one to remember and I’ll look back on it fondly.

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July 4 picnic