10 Things to Appreciate During Summers Away from Campus
The end of the school year is often accompanied by sadness and nostalgia as we prepare to leave our beloved campus, best friends and KAF coffee. For those of us not remaining in Hanover for sophomore summer — namely, ’18s, ’16s and ’19s (are you out there?) — the next three months might look bleak, boring and even unappealing. But all hope is not lost — there are benefits in taking a break from Hanover too. Appreciate these as you wistfully cross out days in your countdown to 15F move-in day.
1. A break from DDS. No more counting meal swipes, stressfully budgeting DBA or trudging home, feeling discouraged and victimized, after FoCo was just “bad.” Sure, you have to deal with real money that you don’t receive simply by virtue of being a Dartmouth student, but you also get to eat home-cooked food.
2. Stable weather. If you’re from New England (like me), this might not exactly hold true, but chances are the weather wherever you are will be less bipolar than in Hanover. Or at least you’ll have the warning of a few clouds before a catastrophic thunderstorm to get your umbrella, instead of rain starting when it’s sunny (#blackout2015).
3. Sleeping enough. Without hearing your floormates having loud sex and drunken rants outside your window at 2 a.m. on a Wednesday night, you’ll be astonished at how much better and more you sleep. And even if you still stay up until sunrise watching Netflix, you’ll probably have time to nap during the day.
4. Restaurant options. When you’re out with your friends, you’ll be able to choose from more than five local restaurants and, chances are, they won’t all be on the same street. As good as Molly’s bread is, change is good too.
5. Chipotle. Self-explanatory. If you don’t have one within 30 minutes of where you’ll be this summer, I might suggest moving.
6. No homework. Unless you’re one of the rogue overachievers taking classes at a college or doing some tough, high-power internship, chances are you won’t have as much work as you normally do. Maybe you can pleasure read, take up a new hobby or invent something. Or just start a new show on Netflix.
7. Higher self-esteem. When you’re not surrounded by the concentrated brilliance and talent of Dartmouth students, your confidence will inevitably rise. When you run into the kid from your high school trying to make it as a rapper, the C you got in Orgo doesn’t seem so earth-shattering anymore.
8. Civilization. Buildings above four stories, shopping stores beyond JCrew more than one Thai restaurant and, hopefully, a lot fewer trees. These days, even having electricity would make a place more industrialized than Hanover.
9. Family. Unless you had the misfortune of landing a family like the Dursleys, spending time with your parents, siblings, etc. is pretty awesome. And if you’re lucky, you might even get your laundry done.
10. No more Sun God. There are people like this everywhere, but I can almost guarantee that none of them are quite as annoying and disruptive as the Sun God. Treasure the time you have without seeing or hearing that abominable car.