Summer 2011

When I was walking across the stage at my high school graduation, I could only think about how quickly my senior year just flew by. I could still remember clearly my first day back, seeing everyone again after two months of break and preparing for that final push before college apps were due. Now that I've finished my freshman year of college, I can't help of feel the exact same way.

I remember my first class ever was International Business with Professor P, he was a hilarious exchange professor who spoke fast with a heavy Spanish accent and a go-easy but you-will-learn-quickly teaching style. He turned out to be one of my favorite professors of the year, for being so friendly and personable, plus his easy as fuck final helps his cause too. The rest of my professors were all pretty good, no one can be singled out as "bad" or "fantastic" for that matter, but given some of the horror stories I've heard from my friends at other schools, I can't complain. Also, with final grades for the semester finally in, I can report that second semester has not damaged my GPA and it shall remain steady for the time being, good enough for me.

I've made some great friends too this past year, and I'll miss seeing them over the summer but it's good to know that we'll be back together come Fall. In the mean time I'll be sharing stories with friends as they all begin to come back home. Stories about classes, parties, romance or the lack thereof and other things from our first year of college are high on the list of things we've all been waiting to gather and talk about.

In addition to relaxing I'm also working this summer; Maria hooked me up with a job over in Maryland where she will also be working once or twice a week. I can say it's a retail job but I won't be going any further than that. This will be my first real job ever so I'm pretty excited. I can finally make some money and maybe start get myself that pair of Sperry Top Siders I've been eying and a cheap project car later on. In July my parents, aunt and cousin will be heading out on a 16 day Northern European vacation/cruise but I decided to opt out. I wouldn't feel comfortable asking for over two weeks off, and while going to Sweden and Scandinavia has been a dream of mine for quite a while now, I'd rather put it on hold and go when I'm actually relaxed and after all the family drama is worked out. Instead, I'll work, workout and enjoy being in familiar surroundings again, that is unless I decide to take an impromptu road trip which is an idea I've been tossing around the past few days.

Despite the whole Eurotrip bummer, I do hope to travel a little bit. I've talked to M though and our mutual friend's parents have a beach house up in Jersey they'd be willing to let us use some time this summer which is cool. Also, Maria's parents have a timeshare down in Orlando they've already booked that me, Maria and a potentially a few other friends might take advantage of and go to Disney for a week. I think the last time I went to Disney was when I was in middle school so that would be brilliant if the logistics of the whole thing could be worked out. That would be the hurdle with most plans, while everything sounds great in concept, actually making things happen is another story, we'll see.

So yeah, compared to previous years of exploring the world and such, this will look to be a pretty grounded, quaint three months. I think it will be for the better in the end, after a whirlwind year, I could use the feeling of stability, of solidarity that is hard to come by on a college campus where everyone seems to be just running around searching for things to do, like bees on the constant hunt for more flowers to make golden honey. I'm hoping to be surprised this summer though, I hope something, or someone will take my life on a detour and show me something new and exciting. I can't wait to see what the future has in store for me, yet I'm also nervous; huh, funny how that works, eh?

All the best,

JP