10 Things To Do The Summer Before You Start College

High school: it was the best of times, it was the worst of times. But you've graduated (yay!) and only have a few short months until college starts. So many of you are dying to begin, but please, please, please cherish your last days in the comfort of the town you were raised in.

1. Stay out past your curfew and then tell your parents, "I won't have a curfew in college!"

They'll hate it. But it's true.

2. Tell your teachers how much they meant to you.

Most college professors are nice people, but I have yet to grow as close to them as I did with some of my high school teachers.

3. Put your phone down and watch old home videos with your parents.

Even let them play the tape of you from elementary school when you were determined to audition for American Idol.

4. Enjoy a local traffic jam on your hometown's busiest street by jamming out to your favorite local radio station with the DJ who tries too hard to be funny.

But don't worry, those corny jokes will still be there when you return.

5. Soak in the smell of your backyard on a summer evening.

Your dad might be grilling, your mom might be making a salad...and believe me, the hamburgers at the caf are nothing compared to your dad's.

6. Have a farewell dinner with your high school friends...

7. ...and cry together

Laugh until there are tears streaming down your face, and the tears will probably turn into actual waterworks when you realize you won't see some of them until Thanksgiving.

8. Wake up early enough to feel the dew between your toes in your front yard like you're a child ready to take on a day of play.

Wasn't it just yesterday when your only concern was what game you were going to play on the trampoline?

9. Scratch your dog's ears for as long as he or she will let you.

Spoiler alert: the university won't be happy if you smuggle a dog into your dorm room.

10. Let your mom and dad hug you for just a second longer.

It will seem annoying, but in a few months you'll be awake at two in the morning stuck on a calculus problem and all you'll want to do is be comforted by the people who first taught you what love was.