I hear it all that time. Moreover, I say it all the time: “Only [blank] more days until the semester is finally over.” I know we’ve all said it: freshmen, sophomores, juniors and seniors. Let's be honest, we're all crazy, over-the-top, stressed right now because literally everyone is stressed in April. “Thank you, professors who save all of our projects and tests for the last two weeks of the semester, right before finals week,” she says sarcastically with an eye roll. So, yes, we’re all busy and stressed and just want to go home for a much needed break. However, intermingled with the feeling of just wanting to quit and take a nap is another feeling nagging at you and pulling at your heartstrings. "Wait, I actually have to go home for a whole three months..." Yes, that's the feeling. That's the weird little heart beat skip that happens every time you think of the end of the semester.
Yes, I know, going home sounds great right now, and you think I'm crazy for even suggesting otherwise. But have you thought about what leaving campus for so long actually means? What packing up your room, loading it all into the car and driving away will actually feel like? Unless you’re one of those people that likes to be miserable and hate everything, it’s probably going to sting a little bit. If it doesn't hit you when you leave, you’ll start feeling it quickly into your break, probably after you’ve sufficiently caught up on your sleep after depriving yourself for the entire month of April.
You’ll start missing all of your friends, your roommates, floor mates or housemates. You'll be sitting at home on a Saturday night watching HGTV with your parents, wishing you could walk down the hall, grab your friend and make a late night Circle K run. Or you'll get up every day to go to your summer job or internship, wishing you were waking up for class so you could be walking on your beautiful campus again, waving at your friends from across the quad. While I'm sure no one is going to miss the parties or the drinking, you will all miss the late-night study sessions or frantic 2 a.m. paper writing marathons [please insert the correct amount of sarcasm for your pleasing].
I realize that I am probably being really depressing right now, but you need to realize how much you're going to miss school during summer break. What's the super cliche saying? Oh yeah, "you never realize much you miss something until it's gone." OK, I'm done being sentimental now. But seriously, don't take your last few weeks on campus for granted. Yes, you're stressed, you're tired and you're fed up with everything. But don't use that as an excuse to lock yourself in your room or the library. Take time to have fun and hang out with your friends. In a few short weeks you'll be home, caught up on sleep and seriously missing everyone. So go find your friends, make memories to last you through summer break and make plans for the next semester when you will finally be together again.
