Sophomore Kelsey Rohwer, a Hatchet columnist, discusses how living at home over the summer taught her a lesson she may not have been able to learn on campus.

I distinctly remember the first time that I was told no after returning home from college. It was winter break and my friend Kasey, whom I hadn’t seen since last summer, was having a party. I asked my parents if I could go and they responded, point blank, “No.”

I’m pretty sure that my mouth just flat out dropped. I’d grown so accustomed to the concept of yes, that I had nearly forgotten that the concept of no even existed. I spent the rest of the night completing the thought, “If I were at school right now…”

College is a world of yes, if only because there are fewer questions asked. I’m starting my sophomore year and looking back, I never had to ask, “What’s for dinner?,” or “Can I go to Thirds tonight?,” or “Can I borrow the car?” At GW, I made each and every single decision myself, with very limited second-party input. Granted, not all my choices were the right ones. For example, not having dinner and then going to Thirds didn’t really pan out so well, but the decisions were still mine, and my answer was always yes.