I am sitting at my desk in my childhood bedroom, in the home where I grew up, starting my summer internship virtually and feeling admittedly silly as I pour a cup of coffee and don professional clothing while I am surrounded by mementos of my youth. Though the coloring books and childhood photographs on my desk have now been replaced by my laptop and a Bluebook, things still feel eerily similar to what I remember growing up.

It makes me think back to this time last year. Coming home last March as the pandemic shutdown hit was almost incomprehensible: sitting in the home that felt so familiar to me, I was also painfully aware of how foreign just about everything else around me really was. I watched my professors (and later my summer employer) scramble to get a handle of how best to continue on in a world that was suddenly unfamiliar. I adapted to virtual meetings, technical difficulties, and Zoom hangouts. I took on the unfamiliarity with an open mind, trying to adjust to the temporary surroundings I believed I was in.

But now it has been a year, and the unfamiliarity has transformed into the ordinary. What was once a few weeks at most is now over a year of remote school and work. Summer internships, clinics, classes, and virtual events have come and gone. Countless in-person events and programs have been transformed to account for the virtual world we remain in. I and most other rising 3Ls (ouch), are entering into another remote summer internship.

I cannot help but be bummed that I am here again. Of course I would like to be in-person, getting a true feel for the field I would like to enter into. My mind immediately flashes to the possibilities of what I am losing by being remote rather than in-person.

That said, I also feel grateful for the ways in which traditional in-person experiences have adjusted that foster the value inherent to them. Both in school and outside of it, I am able to witness the energy and work so many have put forth in order to make sure the experiences we have as law students are worthwhile. Even in my first few days of my summer position, I have witnessed so much effort to help bridge the gaps that the remote world has created. I cannot help but feel thankful.

But perhaps most importantly, the start of another remote summer makes me that much more eager for a return to in-person school, work, and life. I am enthusiastically looking forward to having a final year at BC Law of near-normalcy. I am excited to take the skills that I have learned and hit the ground running to make this final year count.

So as I enter into the summer, I do so with an open mind. I continue to sit at my childhood desk– but now with a view of the light at the end of the tunnel and the motivation to finish out my remote experience the best I can.

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Devon Sanders is a rising third-year student and president of the Impact blog. Contact her at sanderdd@bc.edu.