Welcome all ye students! Welcome back to the paradise that is college. Smell the green grass and giant plants growing in the Gustavus jungle. Gaze upon the tall, brick buildings and that tiny space called your dorm room. Feel the pages of brand new, overpriced textbooks. Smell the delicious scents wafting from the cafeteria. Hear the birds chirping, cicadas buzzing and the Gustie Greeters shouting the “Rouser” at you. Yes, my friends, it is good to be home. All these sensations flooding your perception can only mean one thing: summer has ended, and the school year has now begun.
When you think about it, summer is a very curious season. During springtime, we yearn for summer to come, with its intoxicating freedom, warm weather and absence of forced learning. The three months of summer become almost a year in and of themselves; a time to pack as many fun activities in as possible. The season comes with its own set of resolutions too: read a certain number of books, catch up with the latest TV episodes, hang out with friends on a daily basis, make as much money as possible. And although these goals hype up summer even more than a new Apple product, a week or two after school lets out, the reality of summer sets in of just how abysmally boring it actually is.
During the school year, the slew of classes, homework and parties make it seem like there’s never enough time to get everything done. Once summer hits, though, time slows down to a near standstill (which I’m sure can be explained by the laws of physics). Although there are ample occasions to be productive, there’s really no reason to be. As I sit on the couch wondering what I should do with my day, I find it much easier to watch just one more episode of Arrested Development than start that reading assignment that’s due in the fall. Life then falls into a very predictable cycle:
- Wake up at noon.
- Scrounge up something that’s filling until dinnertime.
- Find an entertaining movie/soap opera to watch.
- Wait for parents to come home and cook supper.
- Once parents come home, pretend to be occupied.
- After supper, tune in to whatever primetime crap is on TV.
- Peruse Facebook until well after midnight.
- Repeat.
Obviously there are some deviations to this summer syllabus, but this is the general format.
Finding summer employment is one way to lessen the season’s monotony. Besides having something to do, you also get a paycheck -– which is vitally important to any poor college student. The trade off is that most summer jobs suck. Somewhere in between filling out the W2s and signing up for hours, you also have to sign away a portion of your dignity. Whether you’re employed at a restaurant or a water park, no rational person would want to make a career working there. As my grandpa always tells me, summer jobs are for discovering what you don’t want to do with your life. There is a certain breed of folks, however, who are willing to forego significant summer wages to work at a summer camp or internship. This way they actually get to do what they enjoy instead having their soul sucked away.
By about August, the tension builds for school to start. At this point, I’m usually so maddened by boredom that I call up random friends who I haven’t seen in years, spend copious hours in Barnes & Noble and workout to midday exercise programs on TV. I find pleasure in shopping for school supplies and new clothes. Last year, I even drove down a week early to campus just to pick up textbooks. Finally, after a very long wait, the end of August arrives and the time comes to make the voyage to St. Peter.
In my mind, fall is the most exciting time of the year. It’s a season of change, not just in terms of nature, but in our personal lives as well. It’s a time to depart from our families and regain our identities with our friends. For all the first-year students, it’s a time to redefine oneself, to chart a new course. As classes start, our minds are re-engaged into who we want to be and what we want to do with the rest of our lives. Any self-doubt or homesickness is quickly swept away with the flood of activities and events happening around Gustavus.