Summer, the time of the year worth looking forward to, especially as a college student. About three months of “fun” is all we plan on doing without the pressure of school and focusing on our future. That is what we want to believe.
This hot season is used as a vacation period for many students, as well as a time to just focus on one part of our life such as a steady job or internship. We all expect to experience a summer of pure happiness and relaxation. But, the plans we have made throughout the school year for this lengthy break do not always come to fruition.
Many students plan on going to other states and countries to enjoy their summertime, while others like myself hope to get a job back home and spend the vacation time with loved ones. Finding a summer job while attending college is never easy. There are many universities and colleges that start summer break as early as May, while the rest of us still attend school until the middle of June. This makes finding jobs in our hometowns even harder. Local jobs when applying usually want to interview possible employees during late spring- early summer. From my experience, this is always difficult to do when living about six hours away from my hometown and still having the school year to finish.
The other students who are lucky enough to find a summer job are usually available all year long, which makes it harder for us traveling students who are not necessarily around all of the time. By the time we are able to pack our stuff and move back home, most jobs are filled for the summer with students from local colleges/universities that have been working since early May. About the first week of my actual summer break I found that all there’s left is theme park jobs that are hiring, and all of us seem to be fighting for the same positions.
When the second and third week of summer hit, you pretty much know your expectations of a summer job are not going to happen. We all need the money, and those of us who have jobs during the summer are lucky because working is really important at this age. Especially for people like me who know college is not cheap, and that every penny counts.
The students that get to study abroad, travel and just plain relax are even luckier because there are so many of us struggling during this season to save up as much money as possible before the loans kick in after graduation. I am like many students, just counting down the days until I can move back up to school because I know there I have more of a chance finding work.
So here is what I've learned, no matter how hard you try to plan for the summer, it may not always end up the way you envisioned. Confidence is key to finding a job at home or even near school, but if things don't turn out exactly the way you planned, it's okay. Enjoy the summer you have. Spend time volunteering. There is about a month of summer left, so to those of us working hard: keep up the good work. And, to those of hardly working (like myself): enjoy the sunshine. Everyday is beautiful whether you're making money or not.
