The summer after your first year of college is strange. It doesn’t feel like any other summer in the way that you’re not a child anymore; you are a young adult. You have responsibilities that include something other than picking out a cute bathing suit or being on time for a lunch date. You might have summer school to attend, full-time hours at your typically part-time job or extended family you have to visit before you head back to campus.
Most people move back to their hometown after their freshman year. It feels weird. It’s home but it’s not. You might find yourself in love with your new residence and not so crazy about your quirky square mile of a hometown. You might even find yourself comparing one town to another and saying that you’d rather be back at school, not for academics but for the hole in the wall diner that serves perfect french fries that your town doesn’t offer or the friends that you won’t see all summer.
Friends are another thing. The summer after your first year of college, you’ll be friend-sick. You will meet up with your old hometown pals, or avoid them completely, and reminisce - but you’ll miss the new friendships and bonds that were created while at school. You’ll have lunch dates with your hometown best friends who possibly go to a different school than you do and you’ll swap stories. You’ll be sad that they don’t know about this one party or that one girl who is known for that one thing she does, or you’ll be happy to share because your life no longer exists outside of locals. It’s a hard thing to describe.
The summer after your first year of college is just different. You might find yourself wanting to spend all the time in the world with your hometown friends at your hometown hangout or missing your newest partners in crime. The summer after freshman year is either the best summer of your life or completely average. I’ve witnessed people make the most of their summer off from school by hanging out with people every night, going on adventures or traveling their little hearts out. But I’ve also witnessed people come home from college for the summer and do nothing. They sit around, miserable, because they miss their college town and their college friends too much.
The summer after your first year of college is strange but be sure to spend time with everyone you don’t usually see. If you have to work, work hard and make bank. If you miss your college friends, go visit them. Say no to staying in and yes to doing things. Make the most out of your time off and embrace your time away.
