Living on campus for just one year can cause some freshmen to wonder how they ever managed to live at home in the first place and this can make going home for their first summer break a difficult adjustment. Especially after experiencing all new found freedom, responsibility and independence.

While in college students have now had the freedom to customize their whole lifestyle and schedule to their satisfaction. They gain new friends on campus to regularly spend time with through classes, extracurricular activities or to just roam about Topeka. Even though family back home is still missed, except things such as mom’s reminders to take dishes to the sink, on the most part students seem happy with their new lifestyle.

It doesn’t take long for most students to get used to this new life of college  so returning home for summer break and be a difficult adjustment.

“It’s kind of weird being back home,” said Meg Calvert, Washburn student, when asked about her transition back into life at home. “I just feel like I’m in a different mindset from being at college.”

While many students do keep up with old friends from high school, things  can definitely feel a bit different when getting back together with them after being away for a year.

“With my friends from home it feels like we’re kind of…going back to normal but I also feel just a bit out of place because, I mean, I’m not really the same person as I was last summer,” said Calvert.

It’s also likely that family at home have made changes to their schedules and lifestyles in the student’s absence.

Janice Davis is a mother of two boys who attended college and remembers what it was like as a parent with a son moving home for the summer.

“Parents make changes to their schedule while their children are away at college,” Davis said. “When the children return as fresh adults, the parents have to make as many readjustments as the children do.”

Most parents will realize that students have grown into adulthood during this year and that they are capable of taking some responsibility for themselves, but others may not be as accepting of the changes. Davis said that it is important to remember that the returning children are adults and don’t need to follow some of the same rules that they used to.

Possibly the largest adjustment to make though is by students. They have become accustomed to a fast paced lifestyle, class, work, homework, and friends in between and it can be difficult to slow down.

When summer hits, some of that load drops instantly. With more free time, Netflix and video games sound like great ways to kill an afternoon but it not necessarily the ideal plan in the long run.

Be sure you take time to experience. Go for walks. Bike trails. Check out a new hobby. Read a new book. Go on day trips. Build things. Craft things. Write. Make. Do.

That’s the summer all of your fellow Bods will want to hear about come fall.