21 Things You Should Do To Prepare For Your First Day Back To College

With only a few days left in the month, it is officially the disappointing end to the summer break and the partially dreadful beginning to the fall semester. Nearly every summer, most of us sit and reflect on everything we wanted to do and everything we didn’t get done but should have. We reread all of the messages of reaching out to friends you haven’t seen in a while and tried to catch up with; reflecting on all of the summer plans that didn’t happen. All of the places we didn’t visit; all of the goals we half-attempted to achieve but failed miserably at. Alas, although we may wallow in our misery, it is time to pull ourselves together and re-enter the gloom and doom of adulthood. If you still aren’t sure where to start or what to do, let me be your helpful guide. Here are 21 things you should do to prepare for your first day back to college.

1. Drown your sorrows with a bottle of wine

2. Scream at your computer/TV screen every time Jon Snow says “Winter is coming”

3. Roll your eyes every time Danny Rand tells someone “I am the Iron Fist”

4. Binge-watch every episode of "Friends"

5. Learn to play an instrument (the guitar is calling your name!)

6. Watch an endless playlist of YouTube beauty tutorials

7. Escape into a marathon of funny cat/dog videos

8. Re-evaluate your life choices

9. Take a long nap and forget to set an alarm (or two or three)

10. Bake brownies at 1 a.m., because you're suddenly craving sweets

11. Reread every message you ever received from your ex, because crying is healthy

12. Delete every pre-2014 photo of yourself from social media

13. Change your phone’s wallpaper and lock screen (I will miss you Totoro!)

14. Create a ‘Goodbye Summer’ music playlist (Bye Bye Bye...)

15. Start planning for your birthday next year, because it's never too early

16. Create a Christmas wish-list

17. Reorganize your collection of Disney movies (Look at this stuff, isn’t it neat?)

18. Re-watch a marathon of your favorite childhood movies

19. Make yourself a fancy drink (Can I have an endless supply of piña coladas?)

20. Reflect on all the days you said you would go to the gym

21. TREAT YOURSELF, especially to some much-needed dessert

Even if you didn't accomplish much these past few months of summer vacation, enjoy these last few days! Give summer a warm farewell!

Here's to welcoming fall with mixed emotions and looking forward to Halloween and Christmas.

Here's to those impatiently waiting for crisp leaves and winter snow. It's time to say goodbye to tanning and shorts and overwhelming heat.

For my fellow New Yorkers, here's to less days filled with sweaty strangers, cramped in smelly subway trains; may air-conditioning be our savior for the time being!