It’s the three months of the year students look forward to the most: summer break. It’s that magical time of the year when we have no homework, no classes, no teachers and nothing to do but sleep, eat and possibly make some money if we have a summer job. Most students live for summer break. When I was in high school, I definitely did. But now that I’m in college, I hate it.
I don’t hate it because of my family. I love my family, and getting to see them is great. Getting to see my dogs is pretty great, too. Since my university is five hours away from my home, I don’t get to visit home very often. This means that every chance I get to see my family is a special one.
It’s not because of the warm weather, either. I’ve always been a warm weather person. I love it. One thing I hate even more than summer break is cold weather. I hope to one day teach in a place where temperatures below 60 are a rarity. Winters can get pretty fierce in Chicago, so heading south for a warm summer is always a blessing.
Don’t get me wrong, I love having the break from school work. I basically spend my entire summer playing video games, watching TV and reading. It’s highly relaxing.
Here’s why I hate summer break. I miss my friends. When there’s about a month left of school, I start dreading summer break because the realization hits me that I don’t have much time left with my friends. Summer is a three-month-long stretch without some of the people who are closest to me, and I hate that.
I do have friends here at home, of course, and I love getting to see them. Almost all of them live at least 20 minutes away from me, though, so seeing them isn’t always as simple as I’d like it to be.
Add to that summer jobs, family vacations and internships, seeing my friends back home, even over the summer, has become a rather difficult task. I always find a way to hang out with them, though, so seeing them is yet another blessing of summer.
Here’s the thing, though. I live with my college friends. I laugh with them, watch bad movies with them, go out for comfort food with them when life gets rough and so much more. Thus, they’ve become more of a family for me than my high school friends are. On top of that, some of my friends just graduated, so I may never see them again.
Three months is a long time for me. A short break is fine, and I need those every now and then. School is hard! I just wish that summer break wasn’t so darn long.
I love always having my high school friends and my family at home, so I can see all of them over the summer. And summer isn’t all bad. I’m just one of those weird people who low-key wishes he could bring all his college friends home with him for the summer.
And it’s because of this separation from the weirdos I consider to be my second family that I hate summer break. Call me sentimental – and I am – but missing my friends is all there is to it.
