Embracing rest, randomness and everything that makes summer feel like a breath of fresh air.

Summer is the season of no schedules, late-night walks and pretending you have your life figured out while slowly melting into whatever surface you are sitting on. If you are like me, operating somewhere between needing to rest for three years straight and wanting to cram a lifetime of adventures into three months — then summer is both a spiritual experience and a logistical crisis.

I am not a “climb-a-mountain-at-dawn” kind of person. I love the outdoors, but I do not, under any circumstance, want to be in a tent unless there are a significant number of snacks in it. My idea of a good summer day involves two main ingredients: sun and vibes. It does not matter whether I am reading a book in a hammock or driving down the highway with the windows down and my playlists blasting, so long as it feels like a moment worth remembering.

One of my favorite things to do in the summer is wander aimlessly, with no checklist or “productive” goal. Just pick a random part of the city — or a town you have never explored — and treat it like a treasure hunt. You would be surprised how much beauty you find when you are not looking for anything specifically. Like that random café with lavender lattes that you instantly become loyal to, or the little vintage store hidden on the corner of a block you would have never normally planned to pass by. Wandering is how I fall in love with the world again after being stuck in lectures all year.

Hanging out in the summer is so refreshing as well. Not the big group barbecue kind (though those are great too), but the chill, no-pressure, just-here-to-be kind. Like lying on the grass with a friend, passing a bag of chips back and forth, laughing at nothing, talking about everything. Time feels different in those moments, as if it is slower and sweeter. You remember what it means to just exist, without grades, deadlines or any grand expectation hanging over your head.

Food tastes better in the summer. There is something special about biting into a watermelon slice that has been chilling in the fridge or devouring a taco after spending all day outdoors. Ice cream becomes a personality trait for me.

The crown jewel of my summer joy is the night, which I find magical. Summer nights carry this specific kind of freedom, like the world is holding its breath, waiting to see what you will do next. Maybe it is a firepit party where you burn your lecture notes in a symbolic act of liberation. Maybe it is a drive with your best friend, shouting lyrics into the stars, pretending the highway is a runway. Or maybe it is just you on your porch, watching the sky fade from gold to navy, feeling like you belong exactly where you are.

Some days are sweaty, awkward or just plain boring. That is okay too, as summer is not about chasing perfection. It is about the little things that stack up into memories without you noticing. Like taking Polaroids that turn out blurry but make you smile anyway. It could look like swimming in freezing water because your friends dared you or rereading a childhood book in a sunbeam and realizing you have changed, but the story still fits you.

Sometimes I feel pressure to have the “best summer ever”, as if I should be traveling through Europe. The best summers I have had were not flashy. They were full of small rebellions against the grind, such as waking up at noon or watching movies I have already seen five times just because. That is the kind of fun that sticks with me, that does not demand anything from me except presence.

If I had one piece of advice for how to have fun this summer, it would be to redefine what fun means to you. Maybe it is hiking, rewatching New Girl for the fourth time, or thrifting an outfit that makes you feel like a 2000s rom-com protagonist. Maybe it is just rest, and that is allowed too. Take a break from being productive and be alive instead.

As university students, our brains are constantly juggling expectations, dreams and existential dread. Summer does not erase all that, but it does give us a little breathing room, so do take it. Fill your days with things that make you feel alive, not just busy. Try things you are bad at. Go outside even if it is just to sit on a bench. Text that person you have been meaning to hang out with. Let summer be the weird, wonderful, imperfect, unrepeatable thing it is meant to be.

Soon enough, the textbooks will return, the schedules will reassert themselves and you will be back in the rhythm of campus life. When you are standing in the middle of midterms in October, brain fried and caffeine-fueled, it is the memory of that one summer sunset — or the laughter over mango sorbet, or the quiet moment in a hammock with your favorite song playing — that will remind you that life is more than essays and exams. 

Life, it turns out, is also about the fun stuff.