Being home from the summer comes with a lot of struggles we definitely do not anticipate. College really makes everything about summer and breaks sound fabulous. Not having to wake up for 8 a.m.s, or not studying for tests (unless you are in a summer class or prepping for some testing for grad school), is the best! How could all of that on its own not sound like the best time of your life? Summer seems so stress- and struggle-free, but in reality there is so much more to summer than that! Do not get me wrong, I love and cherish every break I have, but I fail to remember the different struggles I face year to year, so here are a few of them:
1. The constant questions
Don’t you love when family and family friends ask all about your life? The older I get the more I realize that it may be a good thing, because it definitely gets me thinking, but sometimes there is no answer for them at the moment! Maybe I just got home and I don’t know what I grade I received on every final, and maybe I don’t have an exact five-year plan at the moment. I’ve definitely learned that this has helped guide me and give me an idea of what I want to do with my life, but constantly asking the same questions definitely gets old after a while!
2. Finding a job
Finding a summer job seriously is one of the hardest things I have ever attempted. Year after year I swear I’m getting a job, but somehow something always happens (yes dad I really am trying!). Usually I like to try to be ahead of the game, and I will apply before I even come home so I can get to work as soon as I come home, but that tends to smack me in the face, considering a good majority of places want in-person interviews, and being five hours away definitely puts me at a slight issue year after year. By the time I get home, no one wants to hire someone they have to train just for them to leave in a couple months.
3. Being social
This may be the hardest out of all of them (talk about first-world problems)! However, I come home with every intention to talk to all of my “hometown” friends, hang out with them and fully catch up. Yet, by the first week of summer, all I want to do is keep to myself! I forget to respond to texts, Snapchat’s and so on, which definitely interferes on my plan to be social over the summer. In addition to this I definitely stay in my room a whole lot more than I probably should, and in return only leave and see my family for very small periods of time.
4. Going to sleep at a decent hour/Waking up at a decent hour
This also is an extremely difficult for me! From social media, to YouTube videos, and the trusty Netflix, I have no clue what sleep means. Between being home, the inability to find a job, and not being social, I definitely feel the vibes of binge-watching Netflix series like "Orange is the New Black," or watching hours of how to get the perfect winged eyeliner. I stay up way later than socially acceptable, and in return I wake up ridiculously (and embarrassingly) late in the day.
5. Making Plans
Since I’m not being social a good majority of the time, making plans throughout the summer seems out of the question from the start! That being said, the few times I may see a text, or I don’t forget to respond making plans, always seems so difficult! Not being home for a majority of the year automatically means I don’t remember what there is to do around here, and the few things that stuck out already got done. In addition, those who do have the ability to come home or commute to school claim there is nothing to do because they’re bored of our hometown already! This being said, even if my friends and I are being social, the chances of us finding something to do are slim to none.
