We've all heard it: winter break, spring break, and maybe even Easter weekend. "What are you doing this summer?" I have, of course, also gotten, "what are you doing after graduation?" These questions seem to come from out of left field. Friends you haven't spoken to in months or years will ask you, your parent's friends you've met once will ask you, etc. Sure, there are only a week weeks left in the semester, but does anyone have definite plans for the whole summer?

Summer internships are a pain to apply for, interview for, and get. Fortunately, I have had a major-related internship every summer that I have been in college. Those internships will help me career wise, but I never really was able to have a fun summer that didn’t revolve around my internship and another job, and maybe even an online class, all at the same time.

In your last two years of college, there is a lot of pressure to find internships so you can then find a job after graduation. Of course, that's easier said than done, even if you have had internships. Do you remember when summers were 100% about hanging out with your friends and having no worries? (Hakuna Matata, anyone?) The last time I had a summer like that was probably in high school. I’m not saying you shouldn’t get a summer job. It’s important to hold yourself to the same high work ethic that I’m sure you all have during the semester. I’m merely suggesting that you maybe take a break from the internship hunt and try to have some fun.

“Summer jobs can be fun?” I have friends who move down to North Carolina for the whole summer to work at a country club. They get a house together, go to work together, and then they go out to all the fun local spots together and meet more people from all over who are doing the same kind of thing. My little, Rachel Dolenuck, works at a beach buggie place in her hometown, for example. My sister, Kim Gibbons, will be teaching canoeing at 4-H camp and helping with political campaign work. No one is saying that they aren’t all serious about their career paths, but summers should be spent having some fun, and having some fun outside.

Life is too short and the weather is too nice to be cooped up in an office from mid-May to August. You’ll get stir crazy and your work won’t be as great. Your boss can definitely get mad at you if you have cabin fever, so why not find a job that you enjoy, that will give you some time to get a tan, and where you can have a great experience regardless of how it will help you in the long run? You have the rest of your life to throw on a business casual outfit and commute to a job that may include picking up coffee for your coworkers and trying to remember what that whole faxing thing is (people still do that, by the way).

It’s going to be a long hot summer, and a summer job you love will only make it better.