Going away to college is like going on vacation. You stay up past your bedtime and eat everything in sight. There are no rules. Months later, you pack up knowing you have to go back to living with your parents.

This is where the universal love/hate relationship with summer break begins. As many professors will tell you, you can kiss a future career goodbye if you’re not working in your field during that break.

That’s why college students spend the entire year applying to hundreds of different summer internships. Most students have no experience. They are tiny fish in a giant pond. I was one of those tiny fish, swimming around with no credentials. Just me, myself, and I.

But this summer, I got the opportunity to be an intern at an advertising agency: RITTA. Many people warned me that interns simply get coffee and answer phones. In reality, it was anything but boring.

Not long after joining, I was doing real work. My copy has been read not only by my colleagues, but by actual clients! That’s why I have now found a new level of confidence. There is so much meaning behind a professional opinion compared to a letter grade on a piece of paper. The RITTA team took me in as one of its own and has shown me the advertising-world magic most don’t get to see when they’re in school.

This is my first step to an independent future. It seems strange to think that in only two years I will be searching for a “real” job. Nonetheless, I’m excited to take what I have learned and apply it both inside and outside a college classroom. My professors are right: Internships are key to building a career.

My mother always said, “You’ll never work a day in your life if you love what you do!” Thanks to RITTA, I now know that statement to be true.

RITTA has become my new favorite vacation spot.

And, I never want to leave!