What It's Like To Be A 20-Year-Old At Home For The Summer | The Odyssey Online
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What It's Like To Be A 20-Year-Old At Home For The Summer

Of course I love being home for the summer, but it has definitely given me time to think about this time in my life and how it will never be the same.

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What It's Like To Be A 20-Year-Old At Home For The Summer

Being in your twenties and in college should be one of the best parts of your life. I can say that it definitely is, but there are also some major lows that come during this time too. For starters, this is the time in our lives when we have so much freedom. We go to college and start to be more independent, getting a taste for how life is on our own. With this independence, however, comes responsibility. So yes, we have the time and freedom to explore who we are and do the things we want to, but we also have to start to be adults and to think like them.

One of the hardest parts about being home from college for the summer is having to ask for your parents permission to do things. Can I use the car, can I go on this trip, can I go out with my friends, etc. Most of these things aren't a problem at school. You mostly get to do what you want whenever you want. I have found it difficult at times being home because parents often want you to act like an adult, but still treat you like a child. Yeah, I admit I am not completely ready to be on my own. I still have so many experiences to have and lessons to learn before I will fully feel like an adult. But I have survived 2 years of college away from home maintaining good grades and not getting into trouble, so I like to think I have been a fairly responsible person.

This age can be annoying at times because it is the time when we have the freedom and availability in our lives to travel and do spontaneous things, but also when we probably have the least amount of money. If we are working and making money, it is probably at some minimum wage job and then we go spend it almost immediately on food or clothes or some other thing that seems necessary at the time but probably isn't. Again, we are expected to act like adults so whenever we want to do something it is on us. No more parents lending us money or helping us out as much. Doing the things we want and love means that we are going to be a little dangerously low on cash sometimes, and that's okay because this is the time in our lives to do it.

Being 20, this is the time where yes I am an adult, but I still don't quite have to take on all of the adult-like responsibilities yet. This is the last time in my life before some major life decisions have to start. Soon we are going to have to start looking for big internships and seriously planning what we want to do with our lives. Soon we aren't going to be able to take that time off of work to go to a concert or travel or go visit friends whenever we want to. So even though we might be a little broke right now and are in this weird limbo between being a kid and an adult, it is one of the most amazing times in our life. We need to recognize the freedom and opportunities that we have and take advantage of it while it is still there.

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