Jean was just finishing up her sophomore year.  She had gone home in the summer between Freshman and Sophomore year.  But now the idea of moving back in with her mom brought a sense of suffocation. Jean’s mom seemed to have an opinion on everything and no interest in hearing Jean’s thoughts on anything.  Jean’s dad was clear, he had money for 4 years of school, 8 semesters, and he was not going to pay for summer rent.  As the spring semester was ending Jean was trying to figure out what to do. 

Jean was back in Dr. Maltzman’s lab Sophomore year and he had Jean submit an application for a summer scholarship.  The last few weeks of school Jean just received notice she was awarded the Merck Fellowship. So she had some income to work in the Maltzman lab and it would pay part of her bills.  But she needed a little more money, so she took on a job as a waitress. And, to save money she moved into a room at one of the Universities fraternities. Which had rent 1/20 the price of renting an apartment. 

Jean told her parents the plan to stay at college over the summer. While they were not sure it was the right thing to do, they helped her move into the fraternity. Her Dad was horrified, the floor was sticky with beer, the bathroom seemed to have its own biology experiment on going and the fraternity brothers were laying about not doing much of anything.  Jean reminded him, it was all she could afford. 

That summer with no car, only a bicycle, she rode from the lab to her waitressing job to her physics class on Busch campus.  

All the work was exhausting, the fraternity house was gross. Still this was Jean’s little piece of heaven. Independence.