I never realized how much I appreciated summer vacation in high school until the summer after my freshman year of college. In high school, I literally did nothing with my life during the summer. I slept in, stayed up late, and spent a lot of time on Netflix. However, in college I had to get a job and that meant getting up early, working 30 to 40 hours a week, and paying for a car, gas, and food. Here are some ways my summers have changed ever since I started college.

1. It’s very difficult to hang out with your college friends, because you all live in different towns.

In high school, chances are most of your friends live in your neighborhood. However, in college, people come together from literally all over the world, which means that once you go home for the summer, you have to part ways with all of your best friends. I’m lucky enough that most of my college friends live reasonably close to me, but it’s still annoying having to drive a half hour to my friends’ houses rather than walk up the block.

2. You realize how much of a mess your high school friend group is.

When you graduated high school, you all swore you would keep in touch and that nothing could ever damage your friendship. However, when you return home you quickly realize who refuses to hang out with you because you still talk to a certain friend, who ditched the friend group entirely, and who completely changed as a person for the worse while away at school. People change a lot when they enter college and it sucks, but it’s inevitable. However, you do realize who your true high school friends are and you appreciate them more.

3. It's so difficult to make plans because someone is always working.

Getting the entire squad together? Forget about it. We’re all working summer jobs, and that means holidays and weekends especially. No matter how carefully you plan your next get together, at least one person isn’t going to be able to make it.

4. Not to mention there's always someone who's too broke.

There’s always that one friend who can’t go to the movies or the water park or whatever it may be, because she doesn’t have a job or just blows through her money. (And you find that many times, that friend will be you.)

5. Drinking is a struggle because half your friends are legal and the other half aren't.

In high school, we were all in the same boat that we were underage. However in college, half the student body is over 21. Unless you have a really good fake ID, you’re going to have to awkwardly watch your older friends get into bars and clubs you can’t get into until it’s your turn.

6. Your paycheck goes to less fun things and more bills.

If you had a job in high school, chances are it was just for spending money, or maybe you were saving up for something big like a car. In college? Tuition. Textbooks. Gas. Car insurance. Car repairs. The list goes on and on.

7. Summer school is completely normal.

In high school, you were considered stupid if you had to attend summer school, because well, it meant you failed. In college it’s almost inevitable that you will have to take at least one summer class if you want to graduate on time, no matter how well you did that year. And summer classes are rough because it’s a semesters worth of material shoved into a month.

8. You realize how fast the summer goes by.

My first summer after college, I was in shock at how much faster a 16 week summer went by than having 10 week summers for my whole life. Even though the summer is technically longer, having such a busy schedule makes it fly by. You realize how important it is to make time for fun things in your schedule.

9. You actually start to look forward to school.

In high school, not once did I have any excitement on going back to school after a long summer break. However in college, even though back to school means papers and tests, it also means finally being able to be with all of your friends at once for the first time in months.