If you are like me, and a college student, then you have just entered into the blissful kingdom of Summer that only comes after exams have been finished and textbooks have been returned and all of your many dorm items have been moved back into your house so you now have no room to walk in your own room. Anyway, there are certain things that mark and define Summer for veteran college students and here is what they are.
1. You jump awake a 6:00 am and still think you have overdue work and late essays and projects that you need to turn in, only to discover that you've been home for a week.
We all know this feeling and understand how blissful it is to be able to return to sleep after this terrible nightmare has plagued you. You startle awake in a cold sweat and then as your heart slowly returns to the inside of your ribcage, you realize you can enjoy the Summer.
2. When you go to the beach, and after you have been laying out tanning and running around in the water all day, you go back to your hotel and take a nap before dinner and then throw a sundress on and head out for a seafood dinner on the water.
Now, while this may not seem like a sign of summer, it is for me. This feeling is so distinct and a sign of Summer and beach season, that I couldn't not include it. I've also had some of my friends mention this feeling to me, as afterward, we reminisce in euphoria about these moments.
3. Going to the pool and lying in the sun feels like a revitalization of the soul after being stuck in classes and the cold, dark winter.
This is one of the best feelings for about 10 minutes. Then you get desperately hot and sweaty and have to jump in the pool which is great after 30 seconds of freezing to death. But as a college student, you definitely don't get enough Vitamin D, and this is part of the reason that as a whole, college students are much less grumpy in the Summer.
4. You avoid all books and technology except social media for about a week, claiming that you will never again be bound by the written word again, and then get bored so you start doing your own research and fake essays to pass the time.
Or at least I am. Personally, I am preparing to write a senior thesis and want to be super extra prepared, but I realize not everyone is an English major. Point being, everyone starts craving intellectual stimulation in one form or another. You miss the learning or the smart conversations with people from class, so you start your own projects until you have to for real do projects again.
5. You couldn't wait to get home and have access to TV, or at least more time to binge, and then realize that you could waste away the summer on one but not the other.
TV has become extremely disappointing and it's no wonder that companies and services like Netflix, Hulu and Amazon Prime, are becoming the mainstream way to watch anything. Because they are so easy and accessible, have a great selection of everything, plus it is all on demand make it an extremely appealing service to anyone. Whereas TV and Cable still force you to wait every week to binge-watch season 1 of everything.
6. You were trained out of necessity to eat your food as fast as possible so that you can get back to work, not be late for class or otherwise in some way try to keep working for classes; now that you are home, you retain that same skill of inhaling your food, but instead, your family looks at you like you are crazy.
And it's true. You get pretty good at scarfing down your food when you know you have an 8-page paper due in 2 days that you haven't started, plus 10 hours of reading for all other classes. It just becomes necessary to be able to eat your breakfast while walking to class and then only taking a bite after you've read two pages, each time.
7. Instead of having to check your email 6 times a day looking for important emails, you now don't have to but the habit has stuck so that you now check your school and personal emails as much as you check social media.
Overall, college kind of leaves you with all kinds of PTSD that are hard habits to shake. Summer is a glorious time for college students who deserve a much-needed and well-earned break from what it means to be a full-time student. It can also be an adjustment period for us to turn back into actual human beings. So wherever you are spending your Summer, I hope it's a safe and fun one!
