The hardest part of coming home after a challenging year away at college isn't what you'd expect it to be. It isn't checking final grades, enduring the commute home, or even unpacking a year of my life into my old room. Honestly, it's embracing the fact that there's nothing I have to do. Like, nothing at all.
Simple, I know, but it's very strange to have an empty agenda after so many months of constant deadlines, assignments, and studying. I feel like I'm sitting on the edge of my seat, waiting for a new task to complete or an alarm to go off on my phone that tells me where to be in 30 minutes. Worse than that, I feel like I'm always forgetting to do something. I think the word I'm looking for is suspicion. Yup, I am totally, and fully suspicious of all this free time.
In the middle of second semester, I once took an afternoon to watch movies and rescheduled my homework for the next day... something I'll never do again. Relaxing in college may be easy for some, but as anyone who knows me is aware, this semester was a b*tch. Anytime I tried to take a break, I was met with twice as much stress in return. Now that I've made it through another semester of selling my soul to the college gods, I'm overwhelmed by the amount of nothingness I have to do.
Yes, I have a summer job lined up, and I'll be babysitting as much as I can, but until all that starts, it's just going to be me chilling at home watching Gossip Girl on Netflix. And I know that once my parents read this (hi mom and dad), they'll put me to work doing something, but I really do want to enjoy my free time during this break while I have it.
I hate to admit it, but college really does an excellent job of training its students beyond academics. I now wake up in the middle of the night wondering what homework I forgot, and will check my email and calendar multiple times a day. It's safe to say that I need to find some spring activities before I start a new Netflix show. But hey, I'll most likely be bored to tears in a few short weeks, who knows!
Whether I have a full schedule planned or nothing to do at all, the one thing I do know is that I'm incredibly happy to be home. Summer break is here and I'll have time to reconnect with my friends from my hometown, check of some summer bucket list items, and spend time with my family. And before all of that happens, I think all of the other college students and myself will agree, that after a year of learning in school, it's time to relearn how to relax!
