23 Jul 2010
Summer Vacation
Author: Heather | Comment? | Category: life.
Remember back when you were little and summer vacation was a real thing? Endless days of doing whatever you wanted to with your time during endless summers? Now that you're older, those don't really exist anymore. "The Real World" means working all year long. As Mike frequently puts it: "you get two weeks of vacation time a year, but you can't use it all at once."
The past five years have been a tad bit different from Mike's, but it adds up to the same philosophy. I was a full time university student, I worked a part time job. During my summers I either took more classes or worked full time. However, a few things changed this summer:
- We moved Mike and I moved about an hour north of where we used to live. He still commutes to work in our old city because he has a real job but I didn't feel an hour commute each way was worthy of a retail job (I did the math; half of my daily pay would be on gas costs).
- Internship Starting the second week of August, I begin a full time non-paid internship that will complete my degree in Elementary Education. Basically, I become a full time teacher under the supervision of a current teacher. I will be responsible for everything in the classroom as a learning experience, including all of the hours outside of work spent planning lessons and stressing out. Based on friends' experience during the same program AND the recommendations of the program, it is very difficult to maintain any type of job at the same time.
- No Job Market It'd be difficult to get a job anyways, regardless of the fact that had I looked for one when we moved, I doubt anybody would want to hire me for two months. Granted, in some places, people do get summer jobs. This is Florida. People get winter jobs while the northerners are vacationing here and business is booming but during the summer, it is more likely to lose a job than find one (at least in retail).
- The Conclusion I left my job when we moved and I decided not to try to find one that would only last two months anyways (if I found one immediately; less otherwise). No, I really couldn't afford this decision.
- The Up-side I had my first summer vacation in five years.
At the beginning of the summer, I planned all of the things I wanted to do. Lots of drawing, lots of writing, lots of photography, lots of blogging about my drawing and writing and photography... And yet, when it really came down to it, I needed some unstructured time like back in my childhood days when I just did what I wanted at that moment.
When was the last time you spent a day just relaxing and doing what you felt like doing?
I think humanity needs more of that. It's done tons for my sanity.
When I was little, I would wander my grandfather's property out in the country all day, imagining. I would come up with characters and play all of them at once. I would come inside when it got hot and watch Golden Girls with Gramma and John Wayne with Grampa.
This summer I played videogames (read: World of Warcraft), read books, watched movies, caught up on TV shows, blogged occasionally, planned my story's cover and publication (now I just need to do it), designed my web design business' layout (but haven't coded it)... and relaxed.
Not much of it was productive, and productivity becomes the point of our lives when we get older, but sometimes it is nice to just take a break and give yourself some breathing time to do what you really want to do.
Now that it is the end of July and my summer vacation is almost over, I recall another feeling from my childhood. Back then, at the beginning of June, I was always so ready for school to end and summer to start but towards the end of July, the geeky little me was ready to go back. Now, the geeky big me is ready to go back to school too... but this time, I'm the teacher.
And when I ask the students what they did over their summer, I'll be able to relate. I relaxed and had fun, but I'm so excited to start the school year!
