Move-out day of your freshman year is very strange. It feels as though you’ve just moved into your little dorm with that random stranger or high school BFF. You were just wondering if you needed to bring those six extra boxes of your favorite cereal.
And then … boom! Before you know it you’re vacuuming the floor for the first time in months, having a funeral for your poor rug that has seen better days, and posting a picture of your empty dorm on your Snapchat story with the caption “it’s been real *insert room number*.” In other words, your first year goes crazy fast. But, the thing that is even more bizarre than the fast paced nature of college and your new-found independence is bringing your college-infused self back home. On the magical move-out day, I heard a mom talking to her son in the elevator. She used a great quote to really sum up coming home for the summer: “Well honey, that little fake id of yours is gonna dry up.”
Okay, so there is a lot more to it than that, but all of us in the elevator got a nice belly laugh out of that little comment. For me, living on campus for freshman year was the longest I had ever been away from my family. There were definitely positive and negative aspects to moving out for all of those months, but this summer has already felt extremely different from past summers. Here are six things that are pretty weird about coming home from college for the summer:
1. You forgot that rules were a thing.
You have been living according to your own agenda for the past few months and you forgot what it felt like to be living under your parent’s rule. Whether you have a curfew, house chores, or various other responsibilities it can be a wake-up call from your typically lackadaisical lifestyle. Initially, it can be a little difficult to readjust to your parents or guardians telling you to clean up your room, get a job, or to go to your dentist appointment. However, you secretly missed having those obnoxious little reminders because how else are you supposed to know when to go to the dentist?
2. You actually missed your family. A lot.
Yeah of course they can get on your nerves and you might miss having the occasional alone time, but you really truly did miss your family. You missed snuggling up for movie nights with your siblings, shopping trips with your mom, fishing with dad, family outings in the summer heat, and whatever other activities your family likes to get into over the summer. It is nice to be back around the people who will always support you through your college years and beyond.
3. Seeing high school friends from home is strange.
If you and your pre-college friends went to different colleges it can be super strange catching up with them. It is of course a happy thing to see them again, but it can be overwhelming to try to tell them every detail of your separate school years. When you tell them all of your crazy exciting stories they aren’t going to know Susie from your math class or Billy from your English class, and that make things a little tricky. Nonetheless, you can still laugh about all of the awkward transitioning moments from high school to college and gawk at all of the amazing things that your friends are studying and striving for. Not to mention you can always relive all of the glory days and prepare for new adventures with these old friends. After numerous sleepovers and coffee dates you will be back up to speed on everyone’s life and it’ll be as though all those months didn’t even pass by.
4. Seeing your friends from college can get tricky.
Summer in college is a very different dynamic from high school, because people are coming all over the United States and even the world to attend universities. When everyone goes home for summer some of your closest college friends could be miles across the country. That could mean piling up in your buddy’s Jeep for a road trip to see your sorority sister, going on vacation with your roomie, or getting a plane ticket to visit your bae. You just have to do what it takes to keep in touch with those friends that aren’t going to be right down the street in the summer. Thankfully in this day and age, social media and cell phones makes this task a little easier to. But, if you can make the trip to go see your pals, real life hugs are still the best.
5. Some kind of work is usually still going on.
You might be racking in the dough to support your lavish lifestyle or trying to pay off those college loans. Whether you’re picking up where you left off with a job back home, submitting applications left or right to expand that resume, or snagging the perfect internship, a lot of people have some sort of job over the summer. In addition to jobs, a lot of students will take summer courses. Those could be on a computer screen or on a beach in Hawaii, if you play your cards right. Athletes may also be taking advantage of the summer to prepare for their upcoming school season. No matter what you get into, the summer is a great opportunity to do some kind of work.
6. You feel old.
There is something about being a college student with a whole year under your belt that makes you feel older and wiser. You start to come to the realization that you only have three more years of your undergrad left and then you’ll go off to grad school, to get your PhD, to start a career, to start a family, to do whatever you have in your future plans. It’s finally time for you to start transitioning into the adult world, and defining ways for you to achieve your life goals.
Even with all of this, you can still have fun. Being a little more grown up doesn’t have to totally suck. Summers are definitely still a time when you can have a lot of fun. Taking your classes abroad can give you new, exciting life experiences; getting an internship in a field that interests you can make look forward to your future career; you can still see old and new friends if you put in the effort; you can reconnect with you family; you can still have fun nights out if you balance your schedule; you can take the summer to relax and regroup; and you can take advantage of the summer weather and go adventuring outdoors. So go make the most out of your first summer of college!
