The struggle is real when you come home for the summer from college. Whether it is coming home for just the summer, or moving back home after graduation it is rough. You have to remember that you're not in your apartment or residence hall where you can come in and out whenever you want and do whatever you want. You have to clean your space more often (if you're lucky to even have the same space from when you left) and you probably have to worry about getting a job and making your spending money for the summer. We've all been there and feel your pain. There are so many things that we need to get used to once were home.
Curfew? What's that?
We haven't had these since high school and now that we're back in our houses with our parents they start to sneak back up on us. “Make sure you're home at a reasonable time”. This is really awkward because a reasonable time to yourself is much different than a reasonable time for your parents. We don't even go out for the night until nine o’clock. A reasonable time for some parents is midnight, but that's when the fun really begins. Let's be real, we're not in our college town so we're probably not doing anything “crazy”. We're probably sitting on a couch together watching funny videos or TV shows on demand.
Summer jobs
These are difficult to find for some. We're home for two to three months and just want a sine to hire us so we're not completely poor for the summer. We need some way of funding our summer dream vacation with our best friends! But who is going to hire someone for a short time? By the time we’re fully trained it's almost time to leave. Look out for summer camps and child care places, they always look for help and don't always need employees for lengthy periods.
Going out is hard
We all don't have a Rusty’s in our town where we can pay ten dollars and drink all we want for the night. Once we go home we have to put our going out to a minimum. Not many college students have the money to spend $40 at the bar on a Saturday night. We have to find the bars that have the specials, and even then they're nowhere close to the deals back in our college’s town. Also, going out consists of you putting on a good outfit and looking great because you're probably going to run into someone from high school where they're going to ask you all about what's next and where you're going with your life now.
Not being busy
At school we have class, work, organization meetings, and thousands of friends to hangout with. Now we're at home with very little to do besides catch up on Netflix and snuggle with our puppy dogs. Finding things to do can be a task sometimes when you're so bored. Plus we’re trying to save money so bored
Being away from college friends
Like I said, we don't have our friends as close to us as we are used to. We can't call up our friends who live two apartment buildings away to come sit on the couch with us. Sure, you've got your friends from home who you love to hangout with but you're so used to seeing the same people everyday at school. It's a whole new routine now. Texting and Snapchatting your squad from home can only do so much.
Unpacking stuff
This is the absolute worst part. Our parents even hate this one the most. We have all of our clothes and junk that we accumulated while at college and we have to find somewhere to put it all. We used to think that our room in our house was small, but then you look at all of the stuff you had in your room and you instantly miss your cozy room at school. Your parents say, “Get all of this junk out of my way!”, yet there's nowhere to put it all. We get real good at finding small spots to put it all and to make our childhood rooms look somewhat normal.
So you're home for the summer, relax. Enjoy your time and hang out with the people who you love most. This is our time to catch up on many things including sleep, friends, and to save money. Just remember, staying at home is only temporary if you make it that way. Work hard and do what you can to want to ensure your happiness. Apply to graduate school, find an apartment, or travel a little. We're young and this is our time to live our lives to the fullest!
