So it's the summer after your freshman year of college. You've already taken all your finals, studying all night to get the grade. You've packed up all the food, clothes, and tiny furniture your dorm room could hold, and brought them back home. You've said goodbye to your new college friends, and your awesome teachers, and you've come to the terms with the fact that you won't be on campus for the next three months.
Now what? What are you supposed to do with your time? You're going from being incredibly busy every second of the day, to having a whole lot of free time on your hands. It's gonna be weird, that's a given. But, you don't have to feel like there's nothing to do. In fact, there's quite a few things you can do to pass the time until you're back in your favorite place with your favorite people.
1. Catch up with your friends from back home. This is probably the most emotionally restorative thing that you could do this summer. If you go to a school that's out of state, or even across the country, odds are you haven't seen your high school friends for months. This is the perfect time to catch up with them! Go get a meal at one of your favorite local restaurants, and enjoy spending time learning all about their college experiences. It's been a crazy year for all of you! Gossiping and chatting about your time apart will help you bond with them in a totally new way.
2. Act like a tourist in your own town. When was the last time you went around your town, and explored as if you were a visitor? For the first few days of summer, you may feel like a tourist. Take advantage of this feeling, and do some sightseeing. Is there a landmark in your hometown that you have never visited, but have always wanted to? Has a new restaurant or clothing store popped up that has caught your attention? Go check it out!
3. Get a job, an internship, or volunteer. If you thought ahead to this summer, you may have already secured a job or internship with which to occupy your time. However, if you did not decide to do this, you can still get a meaningful experience from volunteering. Spend time at your local humane society and give love to animals that desperately need it. There's a local women's museum that I am really interested in, and I hope to be able to volunteer there a little bit in between working at my internship and a summer job.
4. Pick up a new hobby. Let's be honest, in college developing new hobbies isn't exactly the top priority. It can be really hard to enrich your life with new activities when you're constantly bombarded with assignments or extracurriculars. This makes summer the perfect time to explore a new activity that you might enjoy. Make a reading list, and vow to finish it in its entirety by the end of summer. Try knitting, crocheting, or maybe scrapbooking. Learn everything you can about an obscure topic, just for fun. This is the time to explore your most frivolous interests, so do that.
5. Write letters to your friends from college. If you find yourself desperately missing your pals from freshman year, like I know I will, you could always write them a letter! Handwritten letters are really touching to receive, and writing them makes you feel like you're communicating with someone in a really intimate and personal way. Plus, when they write you back, you'll get to hear about all of their hometown gossip!
6. Spend some quality time with your family. This is so so important to do over the summer. It will easily be the first time you've had to connect with your extended family in quite a while. Fill everyone in on your first year, and tolerate the endless questions about your future plans. You may hear, "What will you do with THAT major?" more than you want to, but they are just curious. Let them in, and learn about what has happened in their lives, also.
7. Take a day trip. You don't have to book an indulgent vacation to explore this summer. Grab your gal pals and head to the beach, a nearby city, or an interesting national landmark. Take lots of pictures along the way, and stop at gas stations to get junk food. Allow yourself to make new memories this summer, instead of just focusing on the good times from the past year.
8. Commit to minor healthy changes. Let yourself really become transformed this summer. Decide to get up early once a week and take a long walk. Try to drink your recommended amount of water every single day. Swap out carbs with vegetables for one meal every day. Take up a healthy exercise hobby, like yoga or pilates. Summer is your chance to improve your health, without being around mounds of dining hall pizza and sugary energy drinks. Purify your body, and see how awesome you feel at the end of it.
While this summer will definitely be weird, and full of transitions, it can also be really awesome if you allow it to be. Soak up the time you have in your hometown, with friends and family that you may have neglected just a little bit this past year. Even though college is a blur of chaotic events and raucous socializing, your downtime can be just as meaningful if you use it wisely.
