There are several harsh realities in life, such as the calories in your post-bar large pizza that you order at 3 a.m. and that extra-large t-shirts tend to be frowned upon in the corporate world. As a child, you probably have some fond summer memories of being out on the lake with your family or at your favorite summer camp, having a blast from sun up to sundown. You probably counted down the seconds until summer vacation every single year, ready to go to camp or get on that plane for a fabulous vacation, or just flop down on the couch and watch hours and hours of TV and movies.
Once you get to college, the promise of summer is still there, and we all leave the library after staying caffeinated and going over flashcard after flashcard all night, trudging to our last finals, taking the test, and breathing a sigh of relief as soon as we leave the lecture hall. However, summer break is no longer about having downtime and getting to run free with all of the other neighborhood kids, the only worry being whether or not the weather permits the activity. The harsh reality about the season of summer while you're in college is that the majority of you and your friends are either taking classes to get ahead (or catch up), getting a seasonal job in order to have some money for whatever your heart desires, or maybe, like me, you are doing both.
It's heartbreaking, really, because you've spent the semester being completely stressed out about that term paper you wrote and hoping it will bump you up to an A in that class you need to ace, taking test after test after test, only to enjoy a week or two of taking a real, true break with no deadlines, commitments, or other obligations, followed by a “summer" of working and summer school. Guess what jobs and classes have? Deadlines, commitments and obligations!
As college students, we don't have true responsibilities yet, but the myth of summer break is only preparing us for the frightening and looming real world where “summer" also does not exist. I am clinging to the free time that I will have this coming week, because starting June 1st, I go back to working two jobs and taking an online class. That doesn't mean fun summer memories can't be made, it just means there will be less time to create them. The sun will still shine and the waves will still crash on the beach, but in college, summer is much more than a “break." It is another scheduled, working time period just like any other semester.
