Every year around the time when spring break, or spring in general, starts to hit, many students have summer on the brain. Many questions may pop up, such as: Where am I going to work? What will I do in my free time? Should I travel anywhere? What kind of things will be happening? This is the frantic time when many loose ends for summer are in the process of being tied up, or those last minute individuals are just now starting to think about what their summer will look like.
1. Nail down that summer job or internship.
Whether you are a freshman looking for somewhere to work to make some extra money, or a junior searching for that killer internship to help you prepare for your career field, there are many options of great places to work and intern. So start looking into applying to different places depending on where you would like to spend your summer. This could range anywhere from your hometown to Columbia, or even some crazy far away destination. The key here is dream big, and don't sell yourself short on settling for a job and internship that you are not too crazy about because you will be doing it all summer.
2. Follow a passion.
This could be anything, I repeat, anything! Once again the sky is the limit, so find something unique and random that you are passionate about or even want to try and just go for it. The summer, during your college years, is the time to do whatever you want with not a lot of responsibilities, considering you only have to worry about yourself. So learn to play the guitar, take dance classes, try new restaurants or even create a new tradition!
3. Plan, but keep it simple.
It is great to plan some fun exciting big events for the summer. My rule of thumb is pick three to five awesome things you want to do over the summer and plan them before summer starts. Other than that, I think it is great to keep your schedule partly open for the last minute! Some of the best summer memories I have are from carpe diem, seize the day, last minute, crazy plans. Allow yourself to have some of these moments. So you want to watch the sunrise and get donuts? Do it! You want to go to a concert and it starts in less than an hour? Do it! It is summer 2015, why the heck not.
4. Start working on that great summer tan and fitness.
It is never too early to get that tan and workout swag on, so if the sun is shining and it's a warm spring day put off that studying and get outside for an hour or two. You have an extra hour on your hands? Why not hit up the gym for a quick cardio workout.
5. Consider job shadowing someone.
With college only being four years, the job search is always on the mind no matter what year you are in school. Considering summer is a few months and there is a lot of free time, it is the perfect time to job shadow a person or two. This is a good opportunity to see what kind of job you could see yourself doing, or to just make sure you are in the right major or degree area.
6. Think outside the box.
This is key for the day to day basis of summer. To have a meaningful and fun filled summer, this is essential in making each day count. If you go about each day doing your normal routine and don't take time to think of unique ways to make each day exciting, the summer can turn dull quick. Get up that extra fifteen minutes before work to hit up Starbucks. Go night swimming with some friends. It's 1 a.m. and you want Taco Bell -- go get some Taco Bell. You want to take a road trip and you have the day off work -- grab some friends and take that dang road trip.
Whatever the situation might be, whether you are in Columbia or Italy for the summer, whether you are working or traveling for the summer, keep these six key things on the brain. These should all help when prepping for summer 2015 and when it actually hits in a couple short months. The saying for the summer should definitely be, “It's summer 2015 -- why the heck not!"
Life is short. Make your college summers count.
