A Summer in Session
A Summer in Session
Everyone has a go-to fun fact that they can share. You know, in response to that question. If you don’t have an automatic reply at this point, get one. Trust me, it is worth coming up with at least three separate answers, especially if you’re like me and going to college in the fall where it is common knowledge at this point that I will be asked that dreaded question. For me, my go-to answers usually revolve around travel, my heritage, or a quirk of mine: 1. I am the first person in my immediate family to be born in the United States. 2. I collect turtle figurines from across the globe and 3. In my entire existence as a human being on this planet, I have never spent the fourth of July in America.
Summers to me are hiking rocky white mountains dotted with deep green trees, views of azure blue lakes sparkling like diamonds, the smell of wheat and dust floating in the dry air, naps in the hot summer sun, the taste of cherries and stained red hands. Never in my life has summer been defined by fireworks, cook outs, popsicles, and a lot of artificial coloring. I’ve always been lucky to be given the opportunity to travel, but there was a part of me that wondered what the hype of the “American Summer” was all about.
I was so excited back in December to continue my eighteen year long streak of avoiding the United States during its national holiday. My dreams to make like Audrey Hepburn in Roman Holiday were finally going to come true, this time with a better fashion sense that did not include purple Halloween cat shirts and orange shorts. However, my summer plans, like everyone else’s got crumpled up and thrown in the trash faster than any of us could possibly imagine, which for me meant losing my third go-to fun fact and a streak I spent my whole life perfecting.
While I knew back in March that we had no chance of traveling abroad this summer, it finally hit me in May that it was really happening… the American summer I had always wondered about was finally becoming a reality.
Summer 2020
Summer 2020 obviously looks a little different this year for everyone. It is a summer filled with connecting closer with friends, a summer where we finally spend time with that family we try to avoid, and a summer spent cramped in a car, legs sticking to the leather seats while staring at what seems like the same five trees for ten hours while your back aches because your brother’s elbow has been digging into it since three states ago. Last time I ever went on a real road trip and not a quick college cross country tour was when my family drove to Virginia Beach when I was six years old. Needless to say, I feel like a true American citizen who experienced a true American summer now that I have completed the rite of passage known as a “road trip.” But what constitutes a road trip? It’s not just any long trip you take with your family. No, a true road trip needs to meet a certain criterion of crazy. (Have you seen Vacation?) If you haven’t, lucky for you, I’ve compiled a watered-down list of what constitutes a real road trip.
Maria’s Top 10 Criteria of Crazy: Road Trip Edition
You have to have so much shit in your trunk that you can’t see. You HAVE to. I don’t make the rules, I just follow them.
Get some sort of ticket from a cop. Bonus points for reckless driving.
Stop at least three extra times than necessary because the people in the backseat don’t understand the meaning of bladder control.
The person driving has to be super annoying and call out the name of every sign they see because they have nothing better to do.
Some sort of driving game to pass the time.
The driver has to disassociate and reevaluate their mundane life while staring at the endless line of cars.
Fighting. Nuff said. We love a good screaming match.
Hit a living animal on the road and be traumatized by the noise of bone snapping against the two tons of metal going eighty mph on the freeway.
The teen driver going faster than seventy mph and the parent in the passenger seat dramatically holding on for dear life as if they’re on a NASCAR track speeding toward imminent death. Cue one hour later the parent hitting 105 without batting an eye.
This is the most important bullet point here. Okay? Take notes and repeat after me. The playlist makes or breaks the road trip, and if you are one of those people who listen to podcasts, audiobooks, or just people speaking at all, WHO are you? Leave immediately, spawn of Satan, and reevaluate your life choices.
All Roads Lead?
Luckily for me, summer so far has been wonderful. On our road trip down to the beach, I managed to complete every single item on my list and change (the animal I hit was a poor lil bird that flew straight into our car and my speeding ticket which cost 190 dollars), and it was totally worth it. Honest rating? Despite not having another seemingly perfect summer abroad, the month and a half so far spent in America... 12/10. I bonded with my siblings during our crazy road trip and became closer before heading off to college, when I otherwise would have probably ignored them. I danced on my best friend’s boat in impulsively bought swimsuits that somehow cost more than our groceries for the week. I reconnected with someone I thought I had lost forever. I spoon-fed the bits of cherry flavor tainting part of my slushee to a new friend because I hate the flavor and laughed when his brain froze. I trespassed and ran through sprinklers on a golf course at night while the full moon shone fat in the sky above me, smiling despite being soaking wet. I went on a hike with my friend and his dog from hell, getting mostly over my fear of abnormally large dogs. My old grade school friend brought me Rice Krispy Treats and popcorn at one am, and we laughed until our sides ached. I watched sunsets on the beach with family friends I hadn’t seen for a while and now we are closer than ever. I excitedly pointed out the big dipper while lying in a field and marveled at the great big universe in our own backyards. And finally, I ate a hotdog and spilled mustard down my shirt on the fourth of July while jumping out of my seat every other second because I hate loud noises. (Overrated holiday if you ask me).
If you had asked me in May how I thought my summer was going to go, I would have told you that because of Covid, I was going to have the worst summer ever, because nothing could possibly top a summer abroad. Well, I couldn’t have been more wrong. This summer has connected the old with the new, the bad with the good, and created a defining chapter in my life filled with new friends, memories and growth, a chapter I am excited to continue writing.
Cheers to a Summer in Session.
