(This is the third and final installment of our series written by teenagers about summer. Zoie Thomas graduated from high school in Philadelphia, and will attend Muhlenberg College in Allentown, Pa., this fall — after she makes it through the summer.)

RING, RING, RING, RING

“WHAT’S SHAKIN’, BACON?”

“Hey! I was wond-”

“JUST KIDDING. I’M NOT AT MY PHONE RIGHT NOW BUT YOU CAN LEAVE A MESSAGE AND I MIGHT GET BACK TO YOU. BYYYYEEEEE!”

BEEP.

(Go to text message)

“You wanna hang out later?”

“Aw I wish I could! I’m in Barcelona right now! Maybe when I get back?!”

If you’re wondering how a recent high school graduate spends the summer before college, it goes something like that.

My friends’ families have all decided to take trips outside the country and somehow no one thought to pack me in their suitcase and bring me along, so I’m stuck here.

Don’t get me wrong. I have no problem being on my own for long periods of time. If I can survive for nine months in a dark, warm hole with nothing but a tube to keep me fed, I can survive for a month and a half while all my friends decide to venture outside of the country. So instead of moping around, I’ve decided to create a rating system of possible activities for teens going through the same struggle. If your friends are gone, your summer work is tedious and you’re scared to look like a loser in public, this is for you. “Go big or go home” is what I like to say. Or what I probably heard in some action movie and decided would be an inspirational start to this guide.

Now, let’s set the mood. Your friends are all out of town but you’re hungry, so hungry that you could swallow the embarrassment of having to eat by yourself in a restaurant and still have room for dessert. Not only are you hungry, but the one food place you’re craving does not deliver and there’s no way you’re going out of your way to pick up food just to bring it back home. Not again, at least. I have been there, my friends, but it was not as bad as I thought it would be. I walked into an Asian cuisine restaurant in Center City, and if not for my growling stomach I would have walked right out. As I drew up to the hostess I could feel the stares of people around me, and I shakily asked for a table for one. She smiled and lead me upstairs to be seated, and to my delight and horror the upper level was mostly empty. I was delighted at first because no one could see me eating by myself, but the constant checking by the waiter, and the strange looks I received as other couples or groups walked in, set me on edge.

I would give this activity a 4/10. Only a four because halfway through my meal my two friends who are visiting Japan sent me a photo of their breakfast and I was instantly jealous.

I was the most jealous of the views my friend in Barcelona sent me, and when she eventually ventured to the beach I knew I had to do the same, or close to the same. I’m not a fan of scorching sand with dirt sticking out of it, water so filthy the fish have a hard time seeing, the evil demons with wings that swoop down and steal the fries you just bought that you didn’t even have a chance to taste even though you paid an arm and a leg for them but it’s cool, and the list goes on. All that said, I don’t particularly go to the beach with friends and I certainly was not going alone. Instead I settled for the next best thing: a YMCA pool. This was one I had very, very low expectations of, considering that swimming in the summer is usually a friend-group thing. I was pleasantly surprised by how much I enjoyed it though. I guess it also had to do with the fact that I made friends there.

I rate this activity a 7/10, would do again — but only if I needed to.

I became confident that I could handle any excursion after the swimming one and stepped up my game. I went to the gym on my own. I know that many people go to the gym by themselves, but as a teenager who has never been to the gym and who has no idea where her fitness would even start I was pretty much a fish out of water. I was too embarrassed to ask the staff for help, and trust me when I say that if there was a crowded area I was not in it. I think I was getting the hang of things until a guy whose muscles had muscles came in and started lifting double my weight. I gave up and tried jiu jitsu, which was an amazing experience that I can’t put into words.

Lonely gym routine was a 2/10, but jiu jitsu was an 11/10. There was nothing as satisfying as telling my friends when they came home that I had learned a new trick, and watching the shock and bewilderment as they wondered how they went from standing up to lying on the ground in a matter of seconds.

I already knew I didn’t need my friends to have fun, but I seriously doubted myself at the beginning of this summer journey. There’s no need to fear loneliness. After all, we floated around for nine months in a deep, dark hole with nothing but a tube attached to our stomachs to keep us fed.

The time apart from the people closest to me helped me grow into a better person and even motivated me to do things I would never have done by myself. Who knows, I might even plan a trip just for myself!