It's the summer before your freshman year of college. You're excited, but nervous. You've been to orientation already, or you're going soon, and you and your roommate have already planned what your dorm room's going to look like. Even though you will have half the space you do in your room at home (and have to share), you're having fun dorm shopping and picking out bedding and decorations.
Orientation wasn't as bad as you thought it would be, you met new people and your ID picture doesn't look too bad. You rearranged your class schedule so many times until it was perfect (although you do have Friday classes). Then you're back home with your high school friends, most of whom are going to different colleges in the fall, hanging out when you're not working at your summer job, going on a family vacation. You get emails from school reminding you about move-in dates, welcome week activities and events happening on campus. Maybe you're starting the college experience a bit early, by doing IFS (Intensive Freshman Seminars) or an IU Beginnings trip.
There are a lot of emotions going on in your head; you're excited, you're nervous, you're scared, you're anxious. Maybe you have been ready for college for a while; you're ready to get out of your hometown and have new adventures with new people. Or maybe you're not ready to leave your comfort zone just yet; you don't want to leave your friends and family behind.
Its okay to be nervous or scared or whatever emotion you're feeling. Even though you may be ready for college and already have an idea of what it's going to be like, you never know until you get there. Embrace this last summer before you go to college, because after this summer, you're other college summers might be different. You could be taking summer school classes; doing an internship in another city; or doing a study abroad summer program in another city. And maybe you will like college so much, you will be sad when its summer because all your friends will scatter to different parts of the country and you will miss them seeing them every day.
Woah, woah, woah I'm getting ahead of myself here, already talking about your future.
What I'm trying to say is the summer before you start college is a unique time. Although you might be doing the same things you did in summers past (working the same job, hanging out at the same places), you're about to transition to the next stage of your life. I didn't think much about that the summer before I started college; it was just a normal summer save for IU orientation in early June. Now it's the summer before my senior year, the last summer before the "real world" I guess.
I've been reflecting back on my college years and I can't believe how fast three years have gone by. Everyone says that, and like me, you might have rolled yours eyes and been like "whatever," but it really is true. It may not feel like that when you've been studying for days for your first set of finals, but believe me you'll blink and be a senior and wonder how that happened.
Enjoy your summer and get ready for the (hopefully) exciting, amazing adventure that is college!
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