Refresh

Summer is like pressing the refresh button on a page you’ve had open for too long. It’s an open road, a blank mural. Especially as a student, it’s amazing to wake up one morning without the obligation to walk to class or do assignments. I personally don’t mind school, but being able to construct what I fill my days with outside of that is amazing.

Summer is almost like taking a bunch of classes that you don’t get credit for, but you get to choose. What jobs you work to make extra cash, what books you read, what films you write, what meals you have, or what trips you go on. Everything that you choose to do is teaching you something, and during summer, you don’t have to do any assignments or exams to prove that you know those lessons.

That’s what makes it tricky, is that you are left to decide for yourself if you’re truly picking up on those lessons, and if you’re willing to hear them. When you’re reading a new book, are you picking up on the messages or are you just convincing yourself you are? When you’re writing a film, are you truly properly articulating important themes, or are you just telling yourself you are?

But there’s also beauty in this trickiness. You are left to your own devices to make sure that you are picking up all of the lessons you are learning. Everyday is a new class, and the only “exam” that you have to take is the next day.

The first month of summer has presented me with new opportunities. Jobs, trips, passions, and interests. Whether it’s being a waiter, going to different countries, reading new books, or writing poetry, each day has given me new information to absorb and days following to test myself. Especially in a great city, like Austin, Texas, there are so many opportunities to try new things and expand my reach of knowledge and continue to expand myself.