The summer after freshman year

By Rachel Witkin Managing Editor

As college freshmen, we counted the days until our exams were over, until the stress of earning actual grades ended. And then we moved out of our dorms, and went home, with the freedom to finally do absolutely nothing. But somehow, it just doesn’t feel the same as it did when we were 10.

Granted, some of us have amazing internships and have gotten a taste of the real world and the success we hope to have someday. But, in reality, how can one compare the real world (waking up early, dressing up everyday) to the general laziness/workaholic combination we’ve all been accustomed to.

Then there are those of us who didn’t get an internship, as almost every single one said that we had to be a junior or senior (thank you, age discrimination) or had to have had some sort of experience (impossible to do if the jobs are only for upperclassmen). So, if we were lucky, we got a summer job, earning just enough money to pay for our insatiable need to buy refreshments at all points in time. And the jobs we usually work are ones that you could do without even getting your high school degree. Explain to us again why we pay $50,000 a year for a top notch education if we’re just going to be filing papers in a supply closet for the rest of our lives?

And then there are those of us who don’t have a job, who can finally do what we’ve wanted to do all semester: absolutely nothing. We can finally read all the Tumblr we want without feeling the slightest bit guilty that we haven’t read our Orgo yet. We can stay out late without having to get up for class the next morning, and we can see our friends that we haven’t been able to see all year. But there’s one catch: parents. We certainly aren’t used to having rules, or having to clean our rooms, or even having to justify our actions. And when we do get out to see our friends, something is slightly wrong, because they weren’t a part of our lives for the past year. And we think that we’ve matured so, so much since high school.

There are the lucky few of us that are taking summer classes and living on campus, but even they are complaining about doing homework. No matter what our summer looks like, college has turned us into selfish, whiny couch potatoes. And that’s why, instead of wishing the sun filled days would last an eternity, we are counting down the days until we get to go back to college. Until our lives start again.