Mt. Lebanon is commonly referred to as a “bubble.” Despite being just a quick drive from downtown Pittsburgh, it has a reputation for keeping its residents — especially those raised there — sheltered in suburbia. As someone raised in Lebo, I understand the reputation. Though I went to the city a lot as a kid for sporting events, restaurants and concerts, I still sometimes felt my view on my hometown was filtered through the bubble’s lens.

People constantly break out, though. Mt. Lebanon’s public school system is thorough, comprehensive and rigorous, so students come out with an education that not only teaches them about a more realistic picture of the world than they’d have without the school but also puts them in a great position for higher-level education. Most Lebo students attend university after graduating high school, and Niche gives the high school an A- in college prep. Many students choose to go out of state to pursue the specific high-level program that attracts them, which, in turn, pops that bubble.

Personally, I went out of state to American University in Washington, D.C. to study journalism in the nation’s capital. I fell in love with journalism while writing for The Devil’s Advocate, Mt. Lebanon’s high school newspaper. I served as editor-in-chief in my senior year, wrangling a post-COVID staff back to our first fully in-person academic year. I learned everything during my days in Ms. Davenport’s classroom — how to write and edit for journalism, how to design a newspaper, how to manage a team and most importantly how much I love pursuing a story and capturing it in a way that is comprehendible and captivating to my audience.

I fell in love with the AU’s music program shortly after commencing my study, which led me to pick up a music major and write more about music. I had loved playing in Mt. Lebanon’s orchestra, but it wasn’t until university that I realized my days of sacrificing study halls to get an extra practice session in with the orchestra was something that I needed to pursue, even if it was difficult. Music journalism became my passion once I combined my interests I’ve been growing since high school. Now, I live my dreams by writing about on-campus artists for classes, interviewing local musicians for the school’s radio station, and investigating music’s intersection with culture for the school’s investigative magazine.

That all led me to Melbourne. Melbourne has one of the most vibrant music scenes of any city I’ve been to. Regardless of what type of music you listen to, you can catch incredible performances in your preferred genre any night of the week — often for cheap or sometimes free depending on when you go. As someone who has loved music for my entire life and now writes about it, I heard the city’s call.

That call turned into a week’s worth of late nights spent perfecting my application to the University of Melbourne, researching the logistics of living abroad, applying for classes in Melbourne that would give me necessary credits at AU and submitting my application to the Koster Grant program, from AU’s music school, to create a podcast on feminism in Melbourne’s vibrant punk scene. Though stressful, I knew I’d made the right decision in going the second I landed in Australia. My whole body relaxed in relief the second I saw the city from my airplane window.

The next five months would be filled with adventure, new beginnings and self-discovery. The drive I’ve had since high school got me involved in two bands at UniMelb, where I made countless friends. I made friends with other international students and got to learn about life in countries like Italy, England and Japan. I visited other cities in Australia and New Zealand, expanding my horizons past just Melbourne. The podcast project introduced me to Melbourne’s music scene and showed me what my future as a writer could look like.

Since my days at Mt. Lebanon, I’ve had a passion for writing about the world and how people engage with it. To translate that into a greater passion at AU was meaningful, and bringing it to the other side of the world meant even more. I proved to myself that passion and skill were inside of me. No matter where I go or what I’m doing, the desire to portray someone’s story in an accurate and impactful way is always important to me.  That drive, born in my high school journalism class, can travel with me to whatever corner of the world calls to me.

I also realized in Melbourne how stressed I’d been. Coming off a particularly difficult semester in America in the fall, I needed a reset. Before getting to Melbourne, I was working myself without rest. Every minute of my schedule was filled with my job, my extracurriculars, my classes and random side projects. There was barely enough time left over to eat a proper dinner, let alone take time for my well-being. Though I loved everything I was doing, I was constantly on the verge of burning out.

Although I was studying at one of the most prestigious universities in the world, Australia’s work-life culture encouraged me to slow down. America is very focused on hustle culture — on striving for that next big achievement and never taking a day off. While I felt more academically challenged than I have in recent memory because of the more research-focused curriculum at UniMelb, I still felt more welcome to take time to relax at night, to turn off my studies at a certain hour if it could be helped and focus on myself.

Because I wasn’t always overwhelmed, my work felt more enriching than it ever has, and I felt happier doing it. This practice I’ve carried with me to the States, focusing on balancing my drive for achievement with self-care. I am more easily able to focus on my passions, explore new ideas and take steps to have a fulfilling career post-graduation.

Back in Mt. Lebanon, walking the streets I grew up on feels more mature. I am a more polished version of the passions and dreams I had as a teenager, now having tasted them in undergrad and preparing to pursue them full-time with my upcoming graduation. Even though they still seem far off, now that I’ve seen where my hard work can get me, I know that I can realize them by using the persistence I’ve been practicing from such a young age in the walls of Mt. Lebanon — while still caring for myself.