Dear Summer,
I love you...but I hate you. Since I've been in college, summer break just hasn't been the same. It's simple why every kid loves the summer. No school. From Kindergarten up, you patiently waited for the weather to get warmer and the school bell to ring on that final day. The days of waking up to drag yourself to an 8 A.M. class for about an hour each day, with people you may (or may not) care for, are over. Sleeping in and sunbathing are the only things on your to-do list. However, you're in college now which means forget everything you thought you knew about summer break because chances are, you're going to be signed up for some summer classes. Shout-out to whoever thought that was a good idea.
Obviously, summer is the best season of the year. Hair gets lighter, skin gets darker and life gets better. You can't wait to hang out with your friends and be back home where rent is free and the wifi connects right away. The thoughts of beaches, summer concerts, and time with friends race through your mind the entire duration of the drive home. Although it is true the rent is free, and of course your wifi connects the minute you pull into the driveway, but home just isn't the same as it used to be and you start to question how you spent so many years in this town. Your high school friends have become distant and vacations turn into "Netflix and Chill" for one. The only way to get a tan is laying out in the driveway to catch a glimpse of the sun in between seasons.
On top of all of this there's the dreaded summer job. Whether you're working an unpaid internship or a job in your hometown (personally, I'm doing both) you're free time is pretty much shot. By the time you get home you're too tired to go out and to do anything before work you'd have to get up so early the sun wouldn't even be awake to greet you. Either way, there is no winning. All you want to do at this point is go grab a drink with your friends, who are now conveniently scattered all over the United States.
At the same time, you're parents are attempting to fill your little bit of free time with the "rules" they had set back in your high school days. Then it gets really awkward because how do you explain to them that you are an adult, but an adult who just so happens to crash at their place for a few months out of the year? They just don't get it.
To sum up my own summer, I will be going on vacation, soaking up the sun and attending as many concerts as will possibly fit into my schedule. Just kidding, I'm a college student. Reality has me working an unpaid internship, a second job and falling asleep on my parent's couch most nights until I can get back to campus and reunite with my long lost best friends.
Is it August yet?
Sincerely,
An over-worked, underpaid college student just trying to figure out adulthood
