Throughout my years of elementary, middle, and high school, I have always looked forward to my summer vacation. Those summer vacations were filled with freedom, sleepovers, vacations, road trips, freedom, days spent at the pool, and pure bliss. Now as my freshman year of college has come to an end, coming home is the last thing I wanted to do. Call me crazy, but here is why summer isn't much of a vacation anymore:
1. You are no longer a free bird
Face it, the past nine months have been filled with endless freedom. You basically go from being able to do whatever you want, when you want, to now being a little perfect angel under your parent’s watch. You can’t make all the dumb, hilarious, and questionable decisions that you made during the school year (nor do you probably want to). Every time you leave the house, you’re questioned where you are going, when you will be home, etc. So for the next three months, expect to no longer be a free bird. This is probably the worst part of coming home, and the most difficult thing to adjust to.
2. You have actual responsibilities
Speaking for every college student, I do not consider summer a “vacation” anymore. Summers are now filled with working as much as possible at your $9-an-hour-part-time job at a restaurant, ice cream shop, or a tanning salon to earn back the ridiculous amount of money you spent on bar tabs, food, clothes, and God knows what else. Who knows how much you’re going to end up spending again next year. Or even better, you have an internship where you are now working as much as every other adult. Other than working, many students take college courses over the summer to get ahead of the game or make up the classes that they attempted to take at school and completely failed. Other than working your butt off in school and staying involved, we have to admit that college is like a nine-month vacation of endless fun. Therefore, your summer vacation, is not really considered a vacation. Is this what being an adult is like?
3. You have to lose the freshman 15 you gained
What do you mean I can’t eat four slices of Papa John’s pizza at 3 a.m.? You now have to completely change your diet, run 10 miles every day, drink eight glasses of water a day, and pray to God that you lose the Freshman 15 (or 50), that you gained in the past year. Now you’re probably starting to regret all those late-night drinks and meals that have taken a toll on your body. This is your body's chance to detox from everything you have consumed over a course of nine months.
4. You miss your college friends
Don’t get me wrong, friends from high school are amazing, and it’s always the best to reunite and catch up on everyone’s lives and pick up where you left off. But, the reason why you miss your friends from school so much is because during the school year you do not leave each others sides. EVER. You are attached to the hip, whether you’re going to get food, going to class, going out, or even going to bed, you literally eat sleep and breathe together 24/7. Therefore, it is heartbreaking that you go from being together all day every day, to not seeing them for three months.
5. You count down the days until you will be back
So 72? 43? 24? How many days are left? Every single day, I count down the days until I’ll be back. If you’re like me, your summer has consisted of working, taking summer classes, and laying in bed watching Netflix for 10 hours at a time. If you're anything like me, you're obsessed with your school. Once you get to your breaking point, all you can think about is being back in your element at school. As Asher Roth once said, I love college.