Most students will be returning to their schools in the next handful of weeks, and while for some that means ending the eternal fun in the sun and going back to long hours in and out the classroom, for some of the students returning back to their college campuses, it just might be a sweet relief.
Summer can be fun, full of days spent lounging by the pool or road trips with friends. Or maybe you spend every day working at a soul-crushing job because you know the money you can earn working 50 hours in a week can help you with expenses later. No matter how you spent your summer, it's quickly coming to a close.
For those who spent every day working long hours at a dead-end job, first of all, let me say thank you. Thank you for being my cashier at the grocery store, for making my food in a restaurant, for working in the summer heat to clean up after people who didn't do it themselves. Thank you for deciding that having a social life could take a back seat for a while. Thank you for wanting to make money, not spend it.
And for those blessed souls who were able to spend a summer lounging by the pool with no responsibilities, thank you as well. You served as customers to those of us working so hard every day, because someone had to make that fancy Starbucks drink you're holding in those Instagram posts. You had your fun and endless days full of fancy. But now you've got to pack that swim suit back up and say goodbye to the pool until next summer. But don't worry. There will still be Starbucks even if you're not at the pool posing for Instagram.
In all seriousness though, summer is almost over. That means it's time to start gathering supplies, packing all your belongings back into the boxes they came out of just a few short months ago, and maybe making sure that all those boxes can fit in the car so you can return to campus. Get everything in order a few days ahead of time, and, just maybe, you can relax for a few extra days.
Just because summer is over doesn't mean the fun in the sun has to end. Weekend road trips with friends, day trips to the beach or just spending a day hanging in a hammock can turn a normal day into a vacation day. So if you're concerned that going back to school will end all the fun, fear not. There are lots of ways to have fun, even if it's not spending ten hours straight at the pool, getting that perfect tan. You just have to get creative and maybe procrastinate a little on the school work so the fun can ride shotgun with you on the way to the beach.
