My question is.. what do you think? Its a decent chunk of money for me to just hope something keeps rising, do you think I should "let it ride" or cash out and just be happy with ~$500?
0.03 Btc is a pretty good amount especially for people who doesn't have much. And as your first btc, considering the value right now it can be considered as big. Imho, I think you should let it ride first and see where it goes until next year. You see, the value keeps rising again as of the moment and you might be surprised how the value can be doubled in just a matter of days. But if you're having doubts you can keep half of it or whichever amount will do for you and just leave a percentage that you can start growing in btc. Or might as well try buying other coins that is/are promising because there are handful of coins out there that are really making huge percentage of growth each day just like btc.