It’s that time of year again. It’s beginning to be spring break for many college students, and for the rest of us at school, the weather has finally changed from not being completely freezing all the time to seeing a glimmering hope of warmer days ahead. Your friends, your parents, and maybe even some of your parents' friends are likely to begin to ask you what your plans are for the summer. This is one of the most dreaded questions you can ask a college student.
In high school, summer was a time of complete freedom, a destination of its own that was sought after, and little teases of it were given during spring break and sometimes even winter break. Now that we are older, there are higher expectations of how we should be spending our time outside of classes. So it is time to prepare ourselves in anticipation of this highly dreaded question. I’m here to give you some ideas of great answers that sound like you completely have your life together even if you really do not.
First off, I should acknowledge the people that really do have plans in place… Kudos to you. The rest of us are either jealous or bitter. Most likely, it is a combination of both. When an established adult asks you what you plan to do with your summer, you should puff your chest out and proudly talk about your highly sought-after job or internship. But please, all I ask is if you are in a group of your peers who do not yet have their plans in place, make sure you answer this question last. It helps to make the rest of us look better.
However, if you are more like me, you have some ideas of plans, but the action that needs to take place to get these plans set in stone might not have happened yet. The question becomes more manageable here; we can proudly mention that we are planning to do, and just try and sweep the “planning” part under the rug. If you have absolutely no idea what do to during the summer, consider taking a class at your school or at another campus that offers transfer credits in your hometown. See if there are programs abroad where you might get time to learn or work (or both!) in another country.
It’s important to remember that the adults that ask you this are not trying to hear your ideas of one-upping other people, they are merely trying to help. In most cases, the people asking you this will be your parents’ friends or even coworkers, who are doing their best to look out for you. If you are one of the ones that does not have summer plans in place yet, you might want to seek them out for connections and see if they know of anyone you can get in touch with in your area of interest to see if you can get some experience in your months away from school. Most of all, take a deep breath, and remember that we still have three more months to go before summer is here.
