The beautiful campus we call home is home to what seems like 50 people over summer. Staying at Butler University through the summer months is an experience everyone should have while in college. It’s a completely different world than during the normal academic year. Here are some pros and cons of staying at Butler over summer.
Pro: You never get to leave the wonderful “Butler Bubble”. This place is our home for only a few years, then never again. We may get sick of campus around the time of finals and start to feel the itch to be free and get away, but just imagine not having to go back and be bored at home all summer. For me personally, staying on campus is completely different than going home for the summer, I live in the middle of no where with a 30 minute drive to anything.
Con: Summer population at Butler is about 10% or less. We’re used to campus always being full of cars and students, not so much in the summer. If you are on campus, there will at least be a few of your close friends around to hang out with, but you might get bored with them fairly quick, especially if you live with them (not you Ben, just Nate). So, if you’re looking for other people to hang out with, you may be out of luck.
Pro: Midsummer. Boy howdy, where do I begin with this one? The weekend between summer session 1 and summer session 2 has become the tradition known as Midsummer weekend. This is the weekend where Butler kids let loose and have fun. The "knoll" is the place to be on this weekend with tons of students hanging out and having some drinks, for no reason other than midsummer. Be careful for excise though, those bastards will try to arrest you.
Con: Construction is everywhere. There is construction at the corner of Hampton and Clarendon, construction cutting right through the middle of the south mall, construction on the new dorm and parking garage. Literally, almost everywhere you turn there is construction, thankfully the Sunset Ave streetscape is FINALLY done. This construction won’t be slowing down any time soon, either. Expect campus to look substantially different if you haven’t been around since May!
Pro: Free time. Usually, if you’re staying over the summer, all you have to do is go to some random class you’re too lazy to take in the fall... or one you failed in the spring. Another possibility is, you have an internship, or some other barely-above-minimum wage job that barely pays the rent. Whatever the case may be, you either work 30-40 hours a week or take a three credit hour class twice a week, that leaves for a lot of free time. With this extra time on your hands you can go outside and drink a few beers, because why not?
Con: Summer seems never ending. Summer lasts about 15 weeks, and during those 15 weeks you start doing the same things over and over again during the weekday. You begin a new routine of getting off of work or class and going home to watch Friends and Seinfeld, maybe even a movie here or there and also try to cook dinner, i.e., frozen pizza, frozen chicken, pizza rolls, Chef Boyardee. It gets old, fast. The beginning of summer is so exciting, you feel free, but as time goes on, the days run together. You don’t even know what day it is half of the time. It’s almost like you have too much free time.
