I know what you are thinking; this is yet another back-to-school piece. Well, stop that thinking right now! What I am about to say is something you know the feeling of all too well! It's an unfortunate reality. School is back in session.
From August to May, you countdown the days until you can say goodbye to your dorm room, profs, and yucky textbooks that you desperately want to return to Chegg. You are tired of papers, tired of finals, and tired of club obligations.
By the time summer officially starts, you are singing hallelujahs! What a summer it will be! You'll be visiting old friends, working, and going on vacations. It’s what you have been looking forward to. And it is absolutely great...for about a minute.
After summer has lost its appeal as the shiny new toy you got as a present, you start longing for that "old teddy bear" of college. You miss the freedom of starting your evening adventures at 11 P.M. and being able to go next door and have a meltdown to your best friend. You miss chatting with and meeting new people. You miss the constant flurry of events each night by the abundance of organizations your school has. You may even miss class discussions and really great professors.
Summers are always envisioned as tremendously exciting, internship and job filled, and full of sunshine. Yet often, reality falls a little short... Unfortunately summer usually looks like it's spent working to save for school, taking summer classes, and trying not to die of a heat stroke. Summer leads you on with dreams of excitement, but then really you succumb to the Netflix and chill trap.
Personally, my summer has been filled with lows. Most of which have been fixable, but have set me back nonetheless. And, I know I am not alone. Many of my friends experienced the same why me, why am I home feeling. Hence the reason that my move-in day has been happily highlighted in my planner since May. When all of the summer options seem dismal, there is the anticipation of new beginnings to come in the fall.
All of the above lead to only one conclusion: that going back to school is definitely both the worst and best thing. Whether you had an exciting summer or not, college students everywhere are counting down the days until they can be back at their home away from home.
When everyone has returned from hiking here, working there, and buying that, you have your friends at school. And those first days back are the best. The beginning of the year is filled with reunions, redecorating, and revisiting the school cafe. Yet, the realization hits you that in order to have all of those, you have to rekindle the relationship with those overpriced textbooks, dull classrooms, and stuffy library study rooms. However, all those are put off for at least a couple days (if your lucky) of fun unpacking and getting back together with your college fam.
'Tis the season for us all to head back to our beloved colleges. I write this sitting in my half-unpacked dorm, thrilled at the fact that in only a few days I will reunite with some of my closest friends. Cheers to new dorms, friends (new and old), and even some new classes. But most importantly, here's to new adventures. Hence why moving in is the best part of the year!
