The beginning of summer was something you were mentally and physically fighting for at 2 am as you studied for that Bio final. As great as your college buds and those unforgettable memories were, you just couldn't wait to kick it with the day ones and get back into that "same s***, different day" summer routine. You would lose your train of thought because you realized you'd be having French Riviera dinners in less than a month. And because of that summer fling you would be "netflix and chilling" with in no time.
Then, the wonderful and radiant summer that never disappoints sticks around for what, in real life, was 2 months but only felt like a really long week. That summer program to Europe you were a part of left you awestruck and addicted to eating cheese as a snack and rolling your own cigarettes. That family trip to the Cape left you with a warm heart and made you realize you had truly missed your family. But now it's August and you have nothing left but to miss all the pleasant and unpleasant surprises awaiting you for the upcoming school year.
In August, everyone's normally still away at vacation, your older friends have gone abroad for a semester, and your RA or athlete friends have gone to school early. Fortunately, those people mentioned don't have to stay stuck at home for the uncomfortable and awkward last weeks of August.
During this strange time window, you'll find yourself alone at home, zooming through seasons of Scandal, or whatever show you just got into, on Netflix, and then you'll start to notice your Groupme or group chats drowning in pictures and memes from the year before and people "#tbt miss you guys"-ing. Everyone's talking about the best of five Tuesday night pong games and how their dorm or suite is either going to be a "trap house" or just another dorm left untended by lazy roommates.
As you mentally prepare yourself for school, you start to realize that you're just a month away from being independent again. No more parents nagging you to go to different appointments or help them driving your sibling to 7 a.m. high school preseason practices. Aside from being salvaged by school and being free and being independent, you will also have those things you're not so fond of and haven't been missing at all.
You'll be back to writing those "day of" papers, hours of homework you will or won't do, and if you run or hold a position on campus you know you'll be back to a swamp of emailing and event planning until you just want to throw your phone out the window. Your days of just chilling without having to worry about an upcoming exam or paper will soon be over while your days of multitasking and balancing your social, academic, and extracurricular life are making their way around the corner.
The last weeks of August are very awkward and leave your heart not knowing how to feel and your mind not knowing how to think. Squeeze every single drop of the rest of the summer and when you go back to school, try to spend less time thinking about how much you miss having free time and those worry-free days of warm sun. Try spending more time thinking about how you're going to work through the next six months as best as you can an make it to the next summer.
