"Faithful friends who are dear to us, gather near to us once more."

When you're in college, it does not necessarily have to be Christmas for you to reunite with your friends and feel the spirit of this song. For college-goers, the summer feels like every festival one can imagine. Because the summer, truly, is about getting together with all your loved ones, and being grateful for it all.

Going to college is a huge step, not only in terms of growing up, but also in terms of having to be away from your friends. So, the summer feels like a getaway from work and stress, into familiar grounds with friends and family.

What is beautiful about reuniting with your friends over the summer, is that although you are the same people, and you know each other in and out, you have grown up in different ways since you've been apart. And that facilitates grounds for deeper bonding and sharing of anecdotes and experiences. What is so amazing in gathering together over the summer, is that you know how hard everyone has tried to be at the same place at the same time, and that gives you a sense of how much you all love each other, and how much each one you has looked forward to this. What intrigues me, is how even while you have been in contact with each other, you still feel like don't know so much about each others' present lives and experiences, and it opens up so much room for discussion and sharing. What is also beautiful, is how everyone is excited to revisit all their favorite places with their friends, and how you had forgotten how good these places and these people felt.

What is wonderful, is how these people are yours, and although they might have new friends and now experiences now, they will still always be your true friends. It is the validation that no matter how much distance comes between you, you will still come back to each other, maybe like this in a summer, and it will still all be the same. Each memory will still be fresh. Every friendship will stay be so pure.

What I love about being reunited in the summer, is how everyone has so much to communicate, and how much everyone is eager to listen. I enjoy how much everyone makes times for each other, and how much love and mischief you can feel in the air. I love the comfort, and I love the happiness that comes with it.

It is the fact that everything you truly missed about being home, is right here with you in the summer. It is the fact that every time anybody fights, each friend is there to solve the argument, since everyone is so aware of the little time you have together, that they cannot stand seeing any friend fight, or be unhappy. I think it is the realization that this absence has made your hearts grow fonder of each other, and finally, being together feels like home, but even better.

And, what feels bittersweet, but bears immense beauty with it, is although one by one each friend leaves for college or work again, the goodbyes that are exchanged are just mere words, because in your world, you are never truly apart. Separation does not exist for you. You realize the beauty of this summer, and you appreciate and are so grateful your friends' existence and presence right here, right now. There is beauty in how the summer began, and there is beauty in how the summer will come to an end, because it only opens up doors for the sharing of many more experiences, pranks, and love. The end of this summer, only means a welcome to the next one, and how beautiful is that.