During high school, summer was a time typically characterized by freedom from academic obligations, spending time with friends, going on vacations, etc. However, the brutal reality of summer after your freshman year seems to dull in comparison to your former cool, mostly carefree collegiate life. The sad realization that you are back under your parents’ roof, separated from your new college friends, and back in your small, probably-lame hometown takes a little bit of getting used to.
If you want to go traipsing around at all hours of the night like you once did during the school year, well, think again. That late night slice of pizza, lack of curfew, and the accessibility to partying opportunities have decreased significantly, if not disappeared altogether. While parents may have calmed down a little bit since high school, they are still extremely present in your life in a way that they were not when you lived at college. In other words, getting day drunk is simply no longer a thing.
Regardless of how many friends you have in your hometown, being home is certainly an isolating experience compared to that of freshman dorms, where students are basically stacked on top of each other. After living in a condensed dorm room with two other girls who were always available to talk, my room seems somewhat lonely in comparison. Even if you have a solid network of hometown friends, you are still catching up with people who, at a minimum, you may have less in common with than you did in high school. This can be a refreshing way to learn about other people’s college experiences. But all too often, your high school friends seem to have morphed into people incapable of talking about anything but themselves (and their riveting Greek life). College friends suddenly seem much better in comparison.
The summer is also a not-so-gentle reminder of all the positive and negative aspects of living at home. While some people are studying abroad or working an interesting first internship, I have found myself working my two mediocre jobs and spending a lot of time with my family outside of work. At first it was quite an adjustment getting back into the habit of helping out around the house, living with rules, and (in my case) living in what is essentially the guest room. However, I – and probably most of my fellow college students – have found an appreciation for time spent with my own flesh and blood.
Regardless of how clichéd it is, the summer is a great time to reflect on how you probably are not the same person you were at the beginning of freshman year. Whether this change is good or bad varies with everyone, but the presence of some newfound maturity and self-awareness is incredibly welcome and edifying. Though particularly exciting things may not be happening at the moment, this is a great time to stop and think about where you have come from and where you want to go, which is a perfect mindset to enter sophomore year of college with.
