The smell of flowers flourishing in the gardens, the sound of the birds chirping, and the sun shimmering onto the green grass means it is clearly summer time. Summer is the perfect time of the year to enjoy being outside and having a good time with your friends. However, as most college students know, the sound of summer also means summer courses. Summer courses are harder than normal courses since the urge to escape out of your lecture hall into the beautiful outdoors is heightened, and we are all suffering from the hangover of the winter semester finals. Also, let’s not forget that summer courses are excelled and it is so easy to get left behind in the dust. So to spread some words of wisdom to my fellow summer-course college students, I bring you a guide on how to enjoy your college summer courses.
1. Wear your bathing suit to the library!
There is no feeling that compares to the feeling of taking a summer course and being forced to waste your day away in an artificial, air-conditioned library while it is a high of 85 degrees outside and all of your friends went to the pool. One way to alter this feeling is to bring the beach to the library! Wearing your bathing suit in the library will make you feel like you’re sitting in the hot summer sun and just letting the time fly by! You won’t at all feel uncomfortable being half exposed while trying to concentrate on your studies, especially while sitting on those hard wooden chairs! The sand that is still in your bathing suit from spring break will give off the illusion that you’re actually sitting on a sandy beach! You won’t feel like you’ve been in a library for countless hours at all!
2. Study with your friends on a boat!
There is absolutely no better place to study than on a boat during the summer! You will get the fresh air gently hitting you, the wind from the speed boat will make you feel so relaxed, and the sound of the waves crashing against the boat will be so soothing to study to. The wind will not be a factor at all when you’re studying because you can hold down your study materials with a seashell you found on the beach! If you’re one of those people who utilize a laptop while studying, well, I’m sure a beach towel will cover that right up!
3. In class, put those headphones on and search on YouTube “beach waves.”
Don’t worry! Your professor will just post that PowerPoint on your course page, so you don’t have to hear that lecture at all! Your professor probably is not saying anything of importance anyway, so put those headphones in your ears and relax! Enjoy the nice soothing sounds of the ocean waves washing up on shore while you watch all those beach bums chilling in the sand, playing some beach volleyball, and have an awesome summer while you’re stuck in a lecture hall!
4. Forget about even going to class, just take a vacation!
After all that hard work you did in the winter semester, you must need a break! Go on a vacation! Who cares that you registered for excelled summer courses, you won’t miss a thing taking a week vacation in the middle of the summer semester! You can just get those notes from someone who actually went to the lecture that week, and you’ll be all caught up in no time! Take a vacation to Florida! I’m from Michigan, so the only reasonably warm vacation place to go in the summer is clearly Florida! Take a road trip to Panama City! Everyone deserves a break!
OK, these tips are probably not going to help
you land a passing grade in your summer courses, so here are some real tricks to
make that summer course more enjoyable!
1. Actually mark down time to study!
There is nothing worse than forcing yourself to sit in an artificial air-conditioned library on one of the warmest days of summer because you have an exam the next day. A way to avoid this happening to you is actually make time to study day by day so you can plan to get studying done in the morning or afternoon, when you don’t have the urge to go to the beach. Plus, you won’t have to cram all that information in your head the day before your final either!
2. Study outside!
If you do feel forced to study during the day: change your scenery! Studying outside in the summer is one of the best ways to study because you get to be productive in your class and you don’t feel like you’re wasting a nice day away since you are getting some sunlight as well.
3. Open up a window and light a candle!
Now, studying outside may not be for you. After all, you can be easily distracted and sometimes it’s too windy to have papers, notecards and your book all spread out on your workspace. The next way to change your scenery is to try to create that outside feeling inside. Open up your window so you are still getting that nice, cool breeze and then light a candle so you can be embraced with tropical scents like coconut, mango and beach (whatever that smells like).
Side note: please make sure any candles that are lit are a safe distance from any study materials you may have. Believe me, Biology Bonfire probably doesn’t smell as good as you would think.
4. Study with your friends!
Summer is all about having more time with your friends, but summer college courses love to get in the way of that. When you’re planning your summer courses, see if any friends need to take the same courses as you so you can enjoy your friends and achieve a passing grade, too. Plus, the bonus about having friends in your summer courses is you have another person to study with, someone to keep you motivated during the semester, and you get to make memories of that time you two were both stuck inside preparing for your summer course final!
Remember, all those summer courses you take will hopefully help you graduate from college a bit sooner, and you are not alone during your summer course struggles. May we all stick together during the next few months of insane heat and extreme studying!
