People rave about how fun life is in your late teens and early 20s. College, for most teens, is a refreshing cannonball into freedom and four years of pure, immature fun. There is a seemingly infinite amount of guides for how to navigate college itself, but no one warns college kids about the devitalizing disappointment of summer break.
During the school year, teens are given endless opportunities to fill their time with classwork and fun events. Unfortunately, after final exams, the schedule clears and there is nothing to do at all. This is the root cause of summer boredom. Dusting off the family Wii to play Mario Kart or driving around aimlessly are just some of my own desperate attempts to fill a once overloaded schedule. Time drags on with this kind of free time, making it feel like summer will never end.
One of the things that makes this boredom worse is the devolvement of a previously healthy social life. The best part about college is being minutes away from all of your closest friends. It is easy to meet up with someone around campus or walk to their dorm to spend time together. Once school lets out for summer, it becomes exponentially harder to see these friends. People that were once right next door might now be spread across the state, or even the country. Now I am lucky to see college friends even once before August.
With all this free time and a terrifying bank account balance after the school year ends, it is easy to see why so many college kids drown themselves in work during summer break. There is an immense pressure on students to spend the summer working and saving money, but it's almost impossible to enjoy summer while working full time. Spending warm, sunny days working a stressful job inside a climate controlled building is not the ticket to a relaxing break. Unfortunately, college is expensive, so there is not much of a choice, especially for students who are financially independent.
Working during the summer also creates the worst FOMO (fear of missing out). It makes it more difficult to spend time with friends, meaning you have to miss out on some fun hangouts. Summer for college kids is just wasting away at work while looking at pictures of the lucky people who get to go on vacation and lounge by pools. Even worse is watching friends make memories together while you're stuck at home binge-watching "Grey's Anatomy" and scrolling through Instagram. It is truly depressing.
Being back home is like trying to live two lives at once. Home isn't home anymore, but there is nowhere else to stay. A bedroom once a safe haven is now this foreign time capsule of what life was like before college. The place that feels more like home is months away from reach. High school friends have grown apart in their time away. College friends are busy and may not even be nearby. This is the limbo that beats all other limbos. I never thought I would say this, but this summer has forced it out of me: I can't wait to go back to school.
Kenzie Shuman is a sophomore studying Journalism at Ohio University. Please note that the views and opinions of the columnists do not reflect those of The Post. Want to talk more about it? Let Kenzie know by emailing her at ms667222@ohio.edu or messaging her on Instagram @zieshuman.
