No matter what year you have just completed, the journey home from college begins with finals. The dreaded week that often begins earlier than your normal class week. I mean for goodness sake I took the 11 a.m. class to avoid having to be alert at 8 a.m.
Meanwhile, between studying and taking finals you are required to pack up your entire room. Looking around you don't know how or why you have so much stuff. And finding somewhere to start the packing is overwhelming! As my mother would say, "Start in a corner." By it isn't like when I was 8 years old and my entire bedroom floor was covered in toys that I could just shove in the closet. No, this is adult me who will proceed to stuff everything into trash bags.
Once finals are done and you have cleaned the room that has not seen the lick of a rag for 10 months you can begin the game of Tetris. Despite considering yourself organized, the process of packing your car is one that leaves every crack and cranny filled with something, with not space left unexplored. Finally! All those class periods you passed by playing Tetris or 1010! have paid off in the packing of your car.
The drive home is long, but the thoughts of a real home-cooked meal waiting for you make it bearable. Although, a good audio book can also help pass the time because now you can finally read what you want instead of the boring drudgery of a textbook.
Home, home at last! You walk into your old room and stop dead. In front of all your high school memorabilia and stuffed animals are boxes of crafting supplies, yoga gear, airplane modeling kits and miscellaneous workout books. The parental units have decided to use the space you have been "neglecting" for more useful purposes.
Eventually, you find your big bed you have been dreaming about from your rickety mat at school. And the next day you manage to uncover bits of your old room so you start unloading the Tetris packed car only to have the room disappear again. Before you can even find some semblance of normal you are back at your summer job.
Whether that summer job is teaching tiny boppers to swim, bagging groceries at the local market, answering phones all day long, serving fast food out a window or some other mind numbing thing you do each day of your summer to save money so you can spend it all on your education.
What is a vacation? Once college starts vacations are an opportunity to work more hours, make extra money, and sleep. What is a fun vacation? Spending ever other day at the beach or cruising down the river? Playing volleyball, tennis, and basketball with your old friends? Drinking every night even though now your curfew is 10 since you live under "their roof" again?
Whatever summer vacation is supposed to be between the years of college, don't let the warm days slip by.
