May: the month that every college student looks forward too. Though the first week of the month is plague ridden by exams, the promise of summer is worth it. Between studying for finals and packing are tearful goodbyes, and visiting the best spots in the city “one last time.” When everything's said and done, all that's left is to wait for your parents, and prepare for the big move out of the dorm. Then, a stressful two (or more) hours are spent packing the car until it’s bursting at the seams. After saying goodbye to an empty dorm room, handing in the keys, and triumphantly closing the trunk door.
you watch your parents drive away because you’ve still got another six weeks of summer classes.
1. Snapchat
I know from personal experience that Snapchat is the absolute enemy during summer session. If you’re not looking at someone’s snaps of the beach, you’re watching videos of a pool party. Every snap viewed is like a dagger to the heart, and a taste of what you could be doing instead of sitting in class.
2. All work and no play
Between working, classes and studying, summer classes ensure you have virtually no spare time. Countless text messages by friends to ‘hang out’ go unanswered, ‘fun in the sun’ means studying outside, and you slowly start to lose your sanity. You can’t go to parties on the weekend because you have a test every other Monday, and your free time on Friday nights just means you can go to bed earlier.
3. The library hours
When I found out that our library closed at 11 p.m. during summer term, I was devastated. An 11 p.m. close meant no all nighters and no late night study sessions, and summer session meant that study spaces were sparse. One crazy roommate and the temptation of Netflix ensured that studying in my room was off limits, and many a night I turned to Yelp for help.
4. It moves too fast
Especially if you're taking a science class. How can you fit four lectures, three discussions, and two labs into six weeks? Answer: You make the class meet for 17 hours every week. Blink once: lab report due. Twice: discussion quiz. Three times: Exam. Four times: the semester is already over and you feel like you could have done more.
5. Nobody wants to be there
On the first day of classes everyone's already burnt out from finals and the grueling eight months of classes endured. Walking into class, the atmosphere already has changed. If you were slightly melancholy before, walking into class turns the mood into full blown sadness. The only solace is that everyone else is just as miserable as you, and you hope the eight other people sitting at your table aren't complete jackasses.
These are the realest struggles ever faced by students taking summer classes. Although it doesn't seem worth it now, and that the culmination of these struggles is bearing down on you, I promise it's worth it in the long haul.
