I am here to tell you the truth about summer, whether you like it or not. It is not as great as it is made out to be. I love summer, I really do I swear. You are probably reading that thinking that I am an autumn lover, or maybe I am a fan of a good blizzard, but I do not have a favorite season. Every season has something new to offer. That being said, each season has a little something that drives me insane. Summer, even though it supplies students with the sweet escape from classes for a few months, it is not as perfect as it seems. Here are a few things I love/hate about everyone’s favorite time of year:

Let’s start with the weather. Here’s the deal, the hot weather is great and all that, but it has a hidden agenda. I am a very pale girl. I have suffered through countless sunburns that have forced me to stay inside and recover the following days. I grew up down the shore, spending my summers burning and recovering, burning and recovering and so on. No matter how often I reapply or what SPF I use, I will get burnt, it is something I have come to accept. As I got older, my skin turned tanner, and after the initial start-of-summer burn my skin adapted and turned a nice even tan. I recently spent a weekend walking along the French Rivera and only half of my body got burnt (I wish I was kidding). However now that my skin has already been attacked by the sun, I can expect tan skin to follow. Sunburn is something I always link with the summer months, because of the awful experiences I have had. Another thing about this extremely hot weather is the sweat and frizzy hair. I don’t know how some people do it. What kind of genes were they blessed with where they don’t perspire? No matter what clothing I wear I still manage to sweat an ungodly amount. And don’t get me started with my hair. To those of you out there who complain about their “frizz” with their pin-straight hair, do not even open your mouth. I have reached volume and frizz levels some of you will never see in your lifetime. Summer is the time of year where my hair has a field day. Every day it tries something new to annoy me.

Another thing people boast about in summer is all the free time once school lets out. For some people this is a blessing, while for others it is a nightmare. If you have a hard time getting motivated to do things, all this time on your hands could be your enemy. It makes you say crazy things like “I could sleep in an extra hour” or “One more episode of Law and Order: SVU can’t hurt”. And next thing you know you’ve spent your whole day in bed wondering if you could get away with the same plan tomorrow. Next thing you know it is the end of August and you are looking back on your summer and the only thing you ticked off your bucket list was finishing House of Cards and Orange is the New Black in record time. But there are some people out there who are actually out there exploring the world. Every day they seem to be off on some new adventure across the country, or maybe even across the globe. They are making the most of their summer before they have to return to their campus’. For those people, they are taking their summer months very seriously, and giving all of their followers Instagram envy. Finding a balance between these two is difficult, but doable.

Ok, so I know it sounds crazy, but I am convinced summer is the time where bugs are trying to take over the world. I am telling you. Since the weather is becoming nicer they are coming back to life and each year is seeming they are growing stronger. Pick your poison, there are lots of insects I can complain about. Mosquito’s, bees, flies, gnats, and ticks! Did you see there is a new tick epidemic in America? There are ticks so small that they appear to be speaks of dirt on your skin, UNTIL THEY START MOVING. Ticks freak me out because they are so tiny you can never see them! They ruin your nature walks because they are lurking in the grass just ready to attach to you. And mosquitos! What about mosquitos! All they do is obnoxiously buzz in your ear and bite you until your skin is covered in itchy welts. I know that there is a reason why some of these bugs are around. They are beneficial to our eco-system, but I would rather they did it n private so they did not bother me. I cannot stand summers bug infestation. Bugs and I are not friends, they freak me out, they gross me out and I enjoy the fall month when they start to die out. Sorry to all the insect-loving people out there

As someone who goes to a college in the city, it is very difficult for me to be home in the summer. I am a urban-loving girl, and being home in the summer means living in my tiny town where the only exciting thing is the mall twenty minutes away. Do not get me wrong, I love being home with family and friends, but being extracted from my city life is hard. Do you know how many places are open past ten in my tiny town? None! There is nothing that suits those of us who need a midnight snack that they cannot find in the pantry. In Philly, there’s always something to do late at night.

All of that being said, summer is actually a wonderful time of year. I might have some harsh criticism, for everyone’s favorite season but I really do love it. I love the summer highlights that streak through my hair from spending my days by the pool. I love the freckles that dust my nose that only appear in the summer months. The feeling of dipping into a cold pool after feeling your skin prickle with sweat. There is a certain magic that can only be found in the summer months. There is something about the energy in the air that is contagious. Everyone just appears to be happier. Maybe it is the way the tan skin contrasts their white teeth that make their smiles seem brighter. Either way, summer might not be perfect, but it definitely close.