Summer.
It is something that every college student looks forward to. After the excitement from football season has come and gone, it is pretty much the driving force behind our motivation to push through our second semester.
You just finished your freshman year of college, and it was awesome because you had freedom to do whatever you wanted. You hate the fact that you have to say goodbye to all of your friends, but you are excited to rest and relax after a long school year. You aren’t ready for an internship, yet, so you are headed back home. You can’t wait to be back in your own bed and you get to do whatever you want. It will be perfect -- or so you thought.
Phase one.
It’s April. The end of the semester is almost here. Okay, only two more weeks of real class and then it’s Dead Week and then finals. So, basically, summer is already here. “I can do this. I can do this.”
This is going to be awesome. I get to relax and go to the pool and I won’t have to wake up for my 9 a.m. class, anymore; it will be great. I can do whatever I want. You start making a list of things that you want to do.
Phase two.
You have pulled three consecutive all nighters. Your misery has reached an all time high.
Finally, you finish that last final. After a week from hell, it is finally summer. You pack up your dorm room and you say goodbye to the box you called home for an entire year. It is a bittersweet moment, and you begin to get uneasy about living under your parents roof again, but for now you just want to sleep in your big comfy bed at home and push all horrible thoughts of exams out of your head.
You arrive back at home to a nice home cooked meal. Much better than any meal plan. You drift into a deep sleep and think, “I could get used to this.”
Phase three.
One week has passed since you have finished your classes. You have slept in every day until noon. You finished the entire third season of "OITNB" in a day and a half, and you have also watched a number of mindless movies on Netflix. You are unable to keep count.
You have been to the pool every day, but you got sunburnt yesterday, so now you are miserable and can’t move. Summer is starting to lose its appeal.
Your parents are no longer pulling out all the stops to welcome you back home. You are running out of things to do to keep yourself occupied. And you are tired of your mom or dad telling you, “I’m tired of you sleeping all day you need to get up and do something. Clean up your room, and don’t leave your stuff lying around the house.” Or something along the lines of, “You can’t stay out until 2 a.m. when you live under this roof” (I know that I am not alone on that one).
These requests don’t sound like much, but when you just spent your first semester living on your own, and 2 a.m. is considered an early night to you, it is annoying to have rules again. So, you decide that you are going to apply for a summer job, or something like that because it will give you something to do.
Phase four.
You got that job. It’s great and it’s something to do for a few days a week. It helps you get out of the house. Having money that is your own is a nice feeling. But the job isn’t filling the void. It is now July, and you can’t wait to get back to school to see all of your friends. You begin to countdown the days.
Phase five.
I am miserable. This is torture. Get me back to school.
You miss your friends, and you actually find yourself missing class because that would mean you are back at school. You can’t wait to have a set schedule. Football is almost here, and you couldn’t be happier.
Phase six.
“[insert college town], it is nice to see you again.”
