Going into this summer, I wasn’t fully sure what I was going to do since most of my focus was on cramming for my finals. However, I made up for it by discovering the small joys of what I could do once I was back home. Thanks to that, I had an amazing summer and would do anything to do it all over again.

One thing I did the most was hang out with my friends and family. I was able to reunite with many of my friends at birthday parties they hosted, and it was fun to exchange stories about how their first years of college went for them. It felt great to see and celebrate with everyone. I also was able to spend a lot of time with my sister, who also just finished her first year of college. Out of everyone, I think she was probably the person I ended up spending the most time with. We discovered small local cafes, tried restaurants we’ve always talked about and watched so many movies together.

Being from a coastal city, there’s a variety of places to relax by the water. One of my favorite places to go was a park that’s settled right on the water. I often went with my mom, whether it was to go for a walk or to sit at one of the benches and watch the coastline as we ate ice cream. It was a nice place to talk about whatever came to our minds or to get something off our chests.

When my sister or I weren’t making plans to discover a new food spot, I rediscovered my love for baking. It felt nostalgic, and was a great way to relieve the occasional moments of stress that would pop up. After much trial and error, I ended up making a new chocolate chip cookie recipe almost every few weeks, letting my family serve as the main taste testers for each batch. I finally settled on a recipe that got the stamp of approval from everyone, and I think it’s the one that I’ll stick by until there’s another I want to try.

This summer, I was able to do a lot of relaxing activities that I wasn’t able to do while away from home. It felt great to let go of some of the stress I had to deal with during the school year, and I feel more than ready to tackle whatever the fall semester has in store.