Summer Before College

Tossing the caps in the air, posing for endless pictures as enthusiastic parents click their cameras away, and giving bear hugs to those friends cherished since freshman year are all part of the graduation package.

Even after the graduation ceremony and throughout Grad Night, an event solely based to spend the last night with the entire senior class, I was caught amongst the thrill and eagerness of my fellow classmates.

However, a week after graduation was when nostalgia truly hit me. I realized I was not going to return to the hallways of Cal High, but rather I am one summer away from heading off to UC Davis.

As I will take out my suitcase, I will not only pack my jeans and sweaters, but also my individuality and passions.

I will bundle my character and independence, zip them into a compacted compartment, and take them with me to college.

I still have three months before I went off to college. This gave me ample of time to really think about my shift of lifestyle.

I realized how many aspects of my life will change in the coming year, from living on my own and taking on a new level of responsibility, to making new friends and discovering traits about myself.

I was drowning with anxiety and excitement.

It was strange at first, the feeling that the people I have known for over four years, that the peers whom I have laughed and learned with are all going of into different directions in life.

I felt like I was nearly naked, going to college with just my memories and knowledge.

But then I realized that these memories are what have carved me into the person I am.

Thankfully, with today’s technology, Skype and Facebook make it easier to stay in touch with high school friends. With just a click of a button, I can unravel the happenings of my closest friends, without ever having to take out the stationary and postage stamp.

My friends take the next compartment of my suitcase; this realization comforts me.

In consideration with spending time with my family and friends, I wanted to slow down my summer and enjoy every day, instead of rushing through weeks like how I had done throughout the school year.

I have kept myself preoccupied every summer in my eight years in San Ramon, from ice skating lessons to community college classes, to prevent myself from facing the monotonous days of summer.

However, this summer, I decided to keep my calendar free from academia and enjoy the hot summer days with my family and friends.

One of my close friends told me via a Skype conversation once, “Enjoy doing nothing now, so that later on you will have motivation to do something.”

I initially laughed at the triviality of such an obscure statement, but then I realized how true it was; I wanted to have this summer free from the endless rollercoaster ride of stress, which I had ridden throughout high school, and no doubt will hop back into once college comes.

At the docking station of the rollercoaster, my summer, I use this time to preoccupy myself with my own passions, such as reading and scrapbooking, and perhaps use this time to find a new skill, which I otherwise would not have found the time to discover during the hectic school year.

I find myself having a lot more time in things I’m interested.

 “Make new friends, but keep the old. One is silver and the other’s gold,” a corny saying, has stayed with me from Girl Scouts.

Just like the song, I hope to carry many other things I’ve learned in my 18 years and pack­­­ them into my suitcase of character.