Summer break is great. You’re spending more time outside, going on adventures, hanging out with friends, relaxing a little bit and spending time with your family. Also, you’re probably working a summer job, but let’s be honest, it’s probably way less stressful than school.
Summer is the time of year when you can take a break from the homework and make some great memories. However, no matter how much you said you wouldn’t, you miss college. Just admit it. No matter how much fun you’re having over the summer, you can’t keep the thought of going back to school out of your head. By August, you'll probably be more than ready to go back to school. In the meantime, here’s a list of things you probably miss about college this summer and every summer:
1. Your friends.
Don’t get me wrong, seeing your old friends over the summer, or any break, is awesome. You get to meet up, reminisce on your high school years (which seem like ages ago) and see familiar faces that you haven’t seen in awhile. But there’s always something different. You and your old friends have changed over the year or years you’ve been at college. You may not mesh together like you used to. Your college friends, they know the new you and you know the new them. When you’re home, no matter how much you love your old friends, you can’t help but wish you were with your college friends.
2. Your college town.
I go to a really small school in a city that isn’t that big, but it’s big enough. Coming home, I realized how much stuff I actually had to do in my college town. I have my new favorite pizza place, outdoor spot, coffee shop and hangout areas. When you’re home over the summer, you’re bound to miss that favorite drink from your favorite coffee shop or that beautiful view from the top of your favorite hiking area. You start to realize just how much your college town has become your home. You literally are homesick while at your actual home.
3. Your extracurriculars.
I miss my extracurricular activities so much! You probably do, too! You miss going to a different club every night of the week. You miss swimming with your triathlon club or performing with your choir. At home, you no longer have those commitments that you had at school and you actually do miss them. You no longer have these activities built into your schedule. You now have to think of something else to do with your time. I’m sure you’ll think of something, but you still really do wish you had an extracurricular to do over the summer.
4. Your campus.
Your college’s campus has become the biggest “house” you will ever live in. You miss the cafeteria (OK, the food isn’t great, but at least you had a meal provided for you), you miss your dorm, you miss your living area and most of all, you miss all the free amenities of a college campus. Over the summer, you go back to your house filled with a few other people. It can’t compare to the “house” you shared with hundreds, even thousands, of people who've become like a family. There’s a special community that extends outside of your friends as people who are sharing a common home for their time at college. You miss the campus and the community that resides within.
5. Your professors.
OK, here I may be appealing to smaller school students, as I have many friends who go to big universities who don’t even know their professors’ names, but if you made the effort, you may know your professors. I, for one, miss so many of my professors, especially being at a small college. I know that each and every one of them wanted me to succeed, regardless of that nearly impossible-to-write paper they assigned me last semester, or the fact that they had a cumulative final.
We had a fire on our campus this year, and the number of professors offering up their homes for students affected by the fire was amazing. Not only were their office doors open, their homes were, too! Of course, your parents want the best for you, but there’s just something different between parental care and professorial care. This summer, you are probably missing one, if not a few, of your professors.
Overall, summer is a great time to unwind and recharge, but regardless of how relaxed you are, you’re still going to be feeling the summer blues. This list of a few things is only the beginning of the things you probably miss about college over the summer, but it’s a pretty good list to start with. Whenever you start to get discouraged, just remember that summer doesn’t last forever and that you'll soon be back at your new home in no time. But in the end, when you’re at home, you miss school and when you’re at school, you miss home. Oh, how the cycle never ends.
