If you’re like me, you’re probably dreading that fact that classes will begin in a week. For some students, that means having to balance being a full time student with having a job, or maybe even two. For others it means the amount of stress in your life will begin to rise and the amount of sleep you get each night will begin to decrease. It means the summer weather will slowly be replaced with cold weather.

Recently, I’ve been getting asked by neighbors and family the same question: “So are you ready to go back to school?” For me, it seems like the school year just ended so getting asked that question all the time is making me wish summer lasted forever. Not having to worry about classes and being stressed all the time is a great feeling. Summer is the time when everyone gets to travel to exciting new places. Maybe you got to spend all your time at the beach working on your tan. This is a time when you get to see all your friends from back home and tell them about all the exciting and not so exciting things that happened at school. Everyone is sharing Instagram, Twitter, Snapchat, and Facebook posts of where they have been and where they are going. Even if you didn’t go anywhere this year, summer is still a time to be able to go to concerts or take a day trip to the beach. Personally, one of my favorite things is going to concerts in the summer because it usually means beautiful weather and tailgating.

Now that there's only a week of summer left, everyone is trying to do as much as they can. Some people take off work early and travel one last time or maybe your working your last shifts so you have as much money as possible for the school year. This last week will be filled with goodbyes to your friends from back home, as well as some last minute back to school shopping. There will be feelings of sadness, but also feelings of excitement. Maybe you’re not excited for classes to begin but you’ll be excited to see all your friends. You’ve realized over the summer that you have missed your college friends and can’t wait to live with them and see them all the time. If you’re a freshmen, your excited because you get to be independent from your parents. If you’re a senior, you may be happy that it’s your last year of college. The start of school means greek life gets to start recruiting new members, sports and clubs are starting up as well. You’re looking forward to syllabus week, football games, and homecoming. Going to the bars or house parties in your college town will become a regular thing. So while you might not want summer to end, maybe this year you’ll meet new people, try something new and unexpected, and create new memories.