So long, farewell

Finals week is here, finally, and if you have stopped hyperventilating long enough to see the light at the end of the tunnel, you might have realized that this means that summer is here.

After another long year of studying (or trying very hard to avoid studying), our long-awaited breath of fresh air is ours for the taking. And what will we do with all of this time that we have fantasized about for so long?

For the freshman, summer might mean heading back home. Maybe you’ll catch up with your friends from high school, maybe you’ll even return to that crappy teenage job that you swore you would never go back to again, but only for old time’s sake.

And you sophomores? Maybe it’s travel. Maybe you’ll finally head out on that road trip that you always wanted to take with just a car full of close friends and a dependable parent to wire you money if you screw up royally.

While the juniors, the poor juniors, who are slowly coming to the realization that the real world is looming on the horizon, are off to their internships. They’ll be working for little, or more likely nothing, gaining valuable life skills or just perfecting their coffee-making abilities. Either way, they’ll be padding their resumes and coming to terms with growing older.

Which leaves the seniors. For those of you who are lucky enough to have a job (Congrats! The National Association of Colleges and Employers estimates that 22 percent fewer graduating seniors will be hired this year than last), this summer will mean looking for an apartment, moving your things and imagining the triumphant corporate climb on which you are about to embark.

Meanwhile, the rest of you graduates who are still plotting the next step (see liberal arts major) will finally have all that time that you wanted to read or learn a language or whatever it is that we promise we will do whenever the time finally presents itself.

That is until boredom or necessity drives you to look for the job that will put to use your shiny new bachelor’s degree. Odds are it will involve a nametag and/or an apron. Such are the times.

Either way, summer is always a time of promise and uncertainty.

As much as I can’t wait to pack my bags and head out of town on State Road 46, I know that this time two weeks from now, after all of the friends from home have been visited and my old bed has lost its charm, I’ll find myself craving some Mother Bear’s, and then bam! I’m counting down the days till August.

So as most of us prepare to leave Bloomington, whether it is forever, or only a little while, let’s all take a second to stop and smell the red and white roses. Because sooner or later, I imagine – whether it’s next month or next year – we’ll all find ourselves missing our good old Indiana home.