We’ve come upon that time when summer jobs and internships end and it’s time to head back to Bloomington for another year. You’ve learned so much over the summer, padded your bank account, and you’re ready to head back and hit the books, right? …..insert cricket noise here…..
If this is you, don’t worry. We’ve all been there. It’s fun and exciting to get to live that adult life for a few months over the summer and get real work experience, but it can make returning to the college kid schedule a bit daunting. It will take a couple of weeks to adjust, but you’ve got this! Pretty soon, you will fall right back into that stay up until 2, sleep until noon schedule and you will be glad to back in your home away from home.
I am definitely guilty of wanting to fast forward through school and get to the real world as quickly as I can. Last year I did two full-time internships from May to December, so one can imagine that I was not ready to go back to life as a student in January. It was weird at first, knowing that just a month before, I had been working 40 hours a week, and now here I was in Ballantine listening to a lecture on macroeconomics. It felt even stranger to go from working in the White House back to babysitting in order to get by. But after a few weeks, I settled back in to my IU routine and ended up having an awesome semester.
It’s easy to wish that life would hurry up, but college is an investment in your future. And not to mention, it’s fun!
So whether you’re this:
Or this:
We’re all going to get through it together. Here’s to a great year, Hoosiers!
Lauren Butz
Accelerated MPA Student, class of 2019
My name is Lauren, and I am a senior working on my Accelerated Master's of Public Affairs through SPEA. I started out studying Trombone Performance at Jacobs, but after a year I realized that law and public service had my heart. I have participated in the Washington Leadership Program and am a Herbert Presidential Scholar. I have worked my way through a number of jobs from barista to White House Intern, and I'm just keeping on until I achieve that American Dream.
School and work keep me pretty busy, but I can always find time to relax at the end of the day with a cup of tea and some jazz on the record player, pretending that I have it more together than I do. But college is for figuring it all out, right?
I hope I can share with you some of the lessons I've picked up along the way, and eventually we will master this whole adulting thing together. Go Hoosiers!
