It happens to all of us.
Exams end, we drive home, we gloriously plop down in our own beds, on a mattress that miraculously does not feel like it's made out of plastic - and there we stay for approximately two weeks.
We indulge ourselves in a Netflix-and-sugar-coma to alleviate the immense amount of built-up stress we had accumulated throughout the school year, only emerging from our comfy, blanketed solitudes for the occasional snack and bathroom break. Admittedly, this is a pretty cozy way to live for a while. But then one day, one terrible day, we surrender to the boredom of the monotonous, lackluster life that is clicking "Next Episode" twelve times in a row each day, and we ask ourselves, "what am I going to do now?"
Sure, your friends from home start to come back. Work begins. Internships begin. Summer classes begin. A constant schedule starts to form, but none of it really compares to the captivating beauty of being at school.
College life has a lot of perks that we take for granted while we're there. It's so easy to be able to walk down the hall to hangout in your friend's room or to take a quick, 15 minute stroll through campus to pick up some chips and queso from Qdoba. The world seems to get a lot bigger once summer break begins. Would you like to know how long it takes to drive to the nearest Qdoba by my house? Approximately 20 minutes. Complete blasphemy.
Being at home also erases any sense of independence that was once obtained by living alone at school (well, not exactly alone; a surplus of roommates also inhabited your residence, but you get the point.) I don't know about you, but if I'm out past midnight at home, I still receive "where are you?" and "when will you be home?" texts from worried parents, just like I did when I was fifteen and had a strict curfew. Oh Mother, if you only knew how many grueling all-nighters I had while being at school, midnight would seem like nothing to you.
It is quite ironic how during the semester we're sick of school, but then the moment we leave, we're school-sick. I never thought I would miss playing Russian-Roulette: Dining Hall Edition, taking a chance each night to find out whether or not the dinner special will lead to food poisoning, but crazily enough, I do. Mac & Nug Night is the true American dream.
In all honesty though, being home for just a short period of time this summer has given me a newfound perspective on how wonderful college life really is, and I would like to thank my school for giving me a place of refuge for four years of my life. Thank you for giving me a small community that I can call home. Thank you for lifelong friendships. Thank you for long nights that I'll never forget. Thank you for allowing me to feel like an adult (even if I may not technically deserve to be labeled as one quite yet.) And, as always, thank you for the endless chips and queso.
See you next Fall.
