It's what we look forward to every year and what goes by the fastest. Summer, for many, is the epitome of college life because you can finally cut loose the stress of the semester and do something adventurous with your friends. But summer has stages. Here is a definitive guide to the effects of summer, as told by a college student.
Freedom
Summer does not officially start when the calendar makes it so. Summer starts when you walk out of that last final for the spring and take that deep breath of sweet relief. The first effect of summer is the freedom you feel when you throw away that binder with a blind hope that you'll never need to refer to those notes again. The world is your oyster, but you still have to pack up your room first.
The ability to create your own schedule.
Most of us become creatures of habit and stick to a pretty solid schedule during the school year. Others struggle to follow a schedule, which makes summer 10 times better because you can just forge your own. Just keep in mind you'll need money and possibly a summer job, which constitutes a new schedule. But still — out with the old!
Work, work, work, work, work...
The cool thing about summer is that going out isn't a guilty pleasure anymore. You don't have to sacrifice something as paramount as studying to go to a movie or mini-golfing, but you do have to have the funds for it. Sometimes you can land a cool summer job, but mostly you're just doing whatever falls in your lap to make a few extra bucks and put a little aside for school come fall. But only a little.
You have your "ahh" moment.
At some point in the summer, you'll finally take a moment to look around and take in the fact that you're in the heat of summer. For some, it's while lounging on a raft in a pool. For others, it's when you wake up at 11 in the morning and feel no shame. Everyone deserves to have that one little moment.
You realize what the "classification 15" did to you.
When swimsuit season comes around, you finally have a moment to look at yourself and wonder what the heck happened. All those late-night runs to Taco Bell and pizzas in the library caught up to you like a silent killer. But never fear! You're just stockpiling for when the winter comes 'round again.
You start to be healthier.
Once you see the horrors of the semester reflected in the mirror, you realize you should really treat yourself better. All of the fresh flavors that are popular in the summer are easy to adopt between farmers markets, family cookouts and summer restaurant menus. Maybe you even start drinking protein shakes? You've gotta get that 15 off somehow.
You take time to enjoy the little moments.
Be it staying up late, being able to relax and play on your gaming system or phone without feeling guilty, or simply doing absolutely nothing on the couch all day, you begin to enjoy not having the stress of the school year on your shoulders. It's the little things you start taking in and noticing because you didn't have the time or the patience to between class and homework.
But, eventually, you begin to miss your friends.
Not all of your friends are from your hometown, so having them so far away starts to weigh on you. You start to look expectantly at the door for your friends to burst in as they did during the semester. Your best friends are no longer at an arm's reach, and that is probably the biggest bummer about the summer break.
And you think about football season.
Tailgates, homecoming, face paint, the fight song... the fall semester totally beats out the spring semester. There's a lot of pomp and circumstance in the fall and always something to go to on campus. Some part of you actually may be excited to head back.
For a moment, you realize you may actually miss school.
But not real school, like classes and papers and assignments and midterms — the social part of school, like your sorority/fraternity or other social clubs or the friendly guy at Starbucks you've had a class with before. But that's impossible. Why would you actually miss school?
You may even look forward to August.
You start missing your autonomy and the ability to just up and go as your please. You miss having your friends living in the same building. You begin to look around and know that your current situation is only temporary, and you might even find yourself excited for move-in day come August.
Boredom sets in.
You get tired of your everyday schedule of working and coming home and staying up late playing on your phone. Believe it or not, summer can get pretty monotonous. So can school, but at least you have certain milestones to look forward to such as fall break where you can plan a getaway with your pals.
Then you wake up, and it's August.
Wait, really? Where did the summer go? You still vividly remember your last days of class in the spring and the most savage questions on your finals. You just got to summer, and suddenly it's over, and you have to start getting your things together again. It's kind of bittersweet.
Finally, you begin counting the weeks until May.
You move back into your dorm and get everything how you want it again. You're happy to be back in your environment with your friends, but it kind of sucks to know that summer was here and gone so quickly. So you have nothing more to do but start counting the weeks all over again like a vicious, unending cycle.
