Unlike some college students, I truly enjoyed a four month break from college. Although college can be a time of fun surrounded by friends, it has always been hard for me to be away from my family, as I am so close with them. After two semesters of hard work, many papers, tests, homework, and other stresses, it is always wonderful in May to know you have a long summer ahead. Even if you are working a lot, a break from school and time to make money feels pretty good! I am lucky enough to have some of my best friends at home, always making it a fun reunion when we all are back for the summer.

With the amount of school work, extracurricular activities, and trying to balance and keep a social life, in my opinion a four month summer is the right amount for us. Whether students know it or not, it is important for us to take a step back, have time to reflect on our previous year, enjoy being home, take a few fun trips, and just be able to relax and soak in the good vibes of summer time. Sometimes I think most of us, as students especially, have a need to constantly be looking into the future. I will be the first to admit I have trouble with constantly looking into the future instead of just focusing on the present moment. Having time to step away from the college life to realize that there is so much good in front of me in the present moment, instead of trying to worry about what internships I need to look into, what classes I still need to take, what grades I want to get in the future. Of course, setting goals is a positive way of looking into the future, but constant and busy thoughts about the future that tend to get in the way of living in the present is really what can hurt us all.

One thing I never want is to look back and reflect on my life and think how I should have enjoyed present moments more instead of thinking ahead all the time.

I think this is why the best part about having a very long summer during our college years is being able to have lots of time to reflect on how your previous year went, and think about what could be done better for the upcoming semesters. I have realized this past year, that trying to really learn about yourself- including your strengths and weaknesses is so important. This has helped me so much to figure out who I am, what's important to me in life, and how I can try to become a better me in the future.