Since exams and papers and obligations are done with, most of you have probably packed up your cars and are on your ways to your hometowns to enjoy a summer full of sleeping and summer jobs. You’re the ones who are either still living in the dorms next year or you’re living off campus and can’t move in until August. No matter which one, you won’t see your school for a good four months. That thought alone is enough to make anyone cry tears of joy. You won’t have to pass the academic buildings, which remind you of your dangerously low GPA, every day. You won’t receive threatening e-mails from your professors demanding you turn in your paper or they’ll fail you. All of your problems disappeared the moment you turned onto the highway. Some would say these are the lucky ones.
I disagree though. If you want to have a truly killer summer, you should live at school for those four months of freedom. There’s something different about living in your college town when school isn’t in session. Does it feel a little weird? Yeah, at first. Do you end up feeling like you run the place by the end? You sure as hell do. Add a great group of friends to the mix and you have yourself a summer you’ll never forget.
The first time I lived in my college town over the summer was right before my junior year. I was no longer required to live in the dorms and I was about to be 22, so there was no way I was living there by choice. Two of my sorority sisters and I had found a cheap apartment for the upcoming year and since the lease started in June, I didn’t want to waste four months of rent by living at home. Luckily, one of my roommates thought the same and we moved into the place as soon as we could. I had no idea at the time that I was about to have the best summer ever. I had no idea that I would become so close with a group of people that I hardly knew beforehand.
One of the great things about living in your college town are the jobs. Most of us worked for the school and because there were limited services, we only work from nine to four. That meant drinking started around five and didn’t stop well into the night. We had family dinners at least once a week and day trips to the local national parks to swim and you guessed it, drink. We went to the only decent bar/restaurant in town every Tuesday to dominate in Trivia. The bar became our church and the frat house became our home. We each came away with crazy stories to tell. That was the summer I jumped off cliffs and got a black eye from getting hit in the face with a beer can. We didn’t need crowds of people or mixers to have fun. Never underestimate the power of a few cases of beer and a ghost town to roam about freely.
Every student should live in their college town at least once over the summer. Make sure you have a good group of people, enough money to keep you fed and drunk, and enough pictures to remind you about those amazing times…and to gloat a little bit when everyone comes back to school. Trust me, everyone else is going to wish they had the summer you did..
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WineFirst_AskLater
WineFirst likes her wine white, chilled, and alone, although she's been known to share on rare occasions. In an attempt to not grow up, she procrastinates all things adult, such as not paying off her credit card bill and watching re-runs of Sex and the City. If you have any funny stories or new leads (or videos of kids falling down) e-mail her at: winefirst.asklater@gmail.com
@meg_lee_eliza
@meg_lee_eliza
