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| It's easy to get caught up in college prep, but don't forget to pay attention to the present. |
At the end of the school year, it felt like move-in day was
never going to arrive. Now, with less than a month left before I take off 2,000
miles away, it feels like everything is happening at once.
With the end of summer approaching, preparing for my own
sendoff coincides with preparing to say goodbye to others. This, I didn’t
realize, is the hardest part about the summer before college.
Lots of college blogs and articles remind you to spend lots of time with family and friends before the summer ends and you part ways. However, a little detail has been removed, and instead was a painful truth I had to come to on my own: colleges start at different times, and this makes saying goodbye to your friends harder than I anticipated, especially given my (and their) schedule. For example, my boyfriend and I had opposite schedules for separate shows this summer – he had evening rehearsals while I had midday ones, and he’s leaving right when I get into the swing of tech rehearsals that run 10 am to 10 pm. Similarly, my best friend is taking summer college courses and is working a part-time job, which makes her schedule limited as well. This detail of how busy everyone would be the summer before college was never something that was made clear to me, but it’s something that I think shouldn’t go unsaid.
Lots of college blogs and articles remind you to spend lots of time with family and friends before the summer ends and you part ways. However, a little detail has been removed, and instead was a painful truth I had to come to on my own: colleges start at different times, and this makes saying goodbye to your friends harder than I anticipated, especially given my (and their) schedule. For example, my boyfriend and I had opposite schedules for separate shows this summer – he had evening rehearsals while I had midday ones, and he’s leaving right when I get into the swing of tech rehearsals that run 10 am to 10 pm. Similarly, my best friend is taking summer college courses and is working a part-time job, which makes her schedule limited as well. This detail of how busy everyone would be the summer before college was never something that was made clear to me, but it’s something that I think shouldn’t go unsaid.
It will be hard to find time to spend with your friends
before college, especially if you know your schedule is packed, but it is so important to make time around your
schedule. For my boyfriend, that means we’ve made trips out to Wendy’s to eat
very late dinners together after rehearsals or shows. For my best friend, that
means squeezing in our tradition of getting breakfast together on an early
morning on the weekend. Running around juggling activities (and maybe
sacrificing some sleep time) wouldn’t have been hard for me if it was the
school year, but summer is usually thought of as chill, relaxing, and doing
whatever, whenever. It might be true for some people, but in my case, it was
definitely the opposite.
My advice?
Make time to hang out with your friends and significant other before you leave for college.
No matter how difficult it might be (because, truly, it might be difficult). It will show the person that you care about them and your relationship.
A big part of college is making new friends and forming new
relationships, but that doesn’t mean you have to lose old ones.
Lots of love,
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