Every summer, you go into it with a bunch of plans on how you will spend it. Whether those plans be for a vacation, endless hangouts with friends, or the perfect summer romance. But lets be honest, how often do those plans ever really work out? Summer expectations vs. realities are a sad truth of getting older.

1. Hanging out with friends after work.

Expectation:

Reality:

Everyone wants to go on cool adventures with their friends during the summer. Road trips are planned, beach trips are promised, but after a long day at work once I lay down it takes a lot for me to want to get back up, so most of the time I just end up watching a movie with my sister (which is totally fine by me). I do my best to hangout with my friends on the weekend, but that's always when everybody is so busy.

2. Getting in shape/getting a beach bod.

Expectation:

Reality:

To be honest, I'm not even entirely sure what that first girl is doing, but she looks good while doing it! Every year around May I say I should start getting in shape for summer, go to the gym maybe once, end up looking like the girl in the second gif, and just accept my body for what it is. All you need to have a beach body is to have a body and to go to the beach!

3. Getting a tan.

Expectation:

Reality:

I'm Irish, so I can usually expect the burn to come first no matter how much sunscreen I put on. Not to mention I generally wear tank tops with weird bras and get all sorts of fun tan lines. But hey, at least it will fade into a tan right?

4. Summer romances.

Expectation:

Reality:

This doesn't apply to me in particular, but a lot of my friends have dreams of extravagant summer romances that involve long walks on the beach (basically a montage from a Rom Com), but so far it hasn't really been working out for them and they just end up with missed connections of beach beauties that they'll never see again.

5. Going on vacation.

Expectation:

Reality:

The second gif is too real. A vacation would be so nice, but taking the time off of work to take one would make me go broke instantly, so at the end of the day the paycheck takes precedent over my dreams of sitting on a beach for a week. Sigh.

While this may sounds like a bunch of complaints, I actually don't mind how I've been spending my summer. It's nice to have a break from the school year when I generally always have something going on. So while I may not be going to any islands or being adventurous every day, I'm getting a vacation from school which is ultimately what it's all about.