Now that it’s officially August, if you’ve spent the summer at home it’s more than likely you’ve started plotting your escape. You’re so bored that you’ve finished numerous mortifying series on Netflix, you’ve crafted so much that you could successfully execute big/little week tomorrow, and you’re having lucid daydreams about dancing on the pool table at your favorite campus bar. You can’t wait to be reunited with your fabulous big, in a place where it’s perfectly acceptable to dress up in a ridiculous costume, MO at every single mixer, and day drink until you pass out, before the game even starts. It’s easy to forget how amazing being home is when you’re used to being surrounded by your sisters, but that doesn’t mean your summer isn’t incredible.
Here are 20 reasons why your summer actually doesn’t suck:
1. A summer job is way more chill than you think. Whether you’re a nanny for the spawn of Satan, scooping fro-yo for over-eager middle schoolers, or staring at a computer screen at an unpaid internship where your most important task is fetching lattes for the assistants, it isn’t as bad as working in the real world. I promise.
2. Summer anthems are the best, even if they are guilty pleasure city. Nelly’s making his triumphant return with “Cruise” (although nothing will ever beat “Hot in Herre”), swoonworthy magic is going down in Robin Thicke’s “Blurred Lines,” and MiCy is getting weird with molly in “We Can’t Stop.”
3. You never have this much free time during the school year. Yes, it’s because you’re usually out every single night of the week (sorry, Mom), but downtime is the best when you take advantage of it, whether that means sleeping for days or crafting the perfect monogrammed koozie for your grandlittle. You can finally attempt all those Pinterest crafts you re-pinned in class. Even if they turn out borderline pathetic, it’s the thought that counts, and your lineage will pretend to love them anyway.
4. Your home friends are all in one place, but postgrad they’ll be spread out everywhere. Enjoy spending serious amounts of time with them while you can, even though you can outdrink them any day of the week.
5. Summer flings are the best. You can shack with someone completely inappropriate, since there’s an obvious deadline.
6. You have ample time to go shopping for fall. Whether that means finding the perfect ensemble for your robot themed mixer, snagging the ultimate homecoming dress from a hometown boutique, ensuring no one else will have it, or getting completely ahead of yourself and tracking down your ideal semi-formal dress, it’s always better to be safe than sorry.
7. Your mom’s cooking is far superior to anything you can find in the dirty dining hall.
8. Spending the day at the beach is way better than sweating to death in a grassy knoll on campus.
9. Summer gives you time to figure out which boy you’re going to capture next semester. That first date party always sneaks up on you, and it’s less stressful when you have your date pre-chosen (even if he doesn’t know it yet).
10. You can finally work on the family tree you’ve been saying you’d finish since reveal. After all, the new nuggets need to know how perfect their lineage is (no pressure).
11. It’s the perfect time to perfect a natural tan.
12. There’s no stress — no papers to write, deadlines to meet, or officer minutes to submit.
13. You can start creeping early for recruitment. Those potential new members will never know what hit ‘em.
14. Family vacations might seem beyond boring, but one day you’ll no longer live with those goobers, and you’ll miss them more than anything.
15. While your mom has the ability to be more judgmental than your standards chair after that one formal that ended in disaster (how did so many people vomit at one time?), she’s the best and loves you more than anything. Being able to spend time with her everyday doesn’t compare to catch up sessions on the phone. Plus, being with her 24/7 means she isn’t calling all day everyday, which is kind of a relief.
16. You can finally detox. Let’s be honest, after last semester’s not-so-healthy combination of lattes, tequila, and hunch punch, you could probably use it.
17. You don’t have to pretend to care about how you look even a little. It’s not like you’re going to be judged by rival sororities or run into last night’s hookup at the local mall, so you can rock norts on the daily without having to pretend that you’re going to the gym later.
18. There’s no chapter advisor or standards chair to monitor your bad behavior (I mean, they exist, but even they have to take time off), so if you return to campus for a quick visit you can get as down and dirty as you want.
19. It’s the perfect opportunity to come up with stories that will put your sisters to shame. Whether that means taking an impromptu vacay to NYC to procure a McLovin style fake ID, or shacking with the smoking hot valet at your beach club, get cracking, because there’s only a month left of mayhem.
20. Being reunited with your sisters is even better after spending the summer apart.