Students hold memories close to their hearts, from time spent with friends and family to getting to create new experiences that will stay in the back of their minds as the Fall Semester rapidly approaches.
Summer may soon be over, but students will be able to remember these moments far beyond the start of autumn.
Bella Lonsway, a junior studying psychology, said she was lucky enough to have been able to travel to Hawaii and Columbia this summer. She said she had not been out of the United States in quite some time, so being able to travel to Columbia was a unique experience. Additionally, she spent time with her best friend in Hawaii and celebrated her 20th birthday there, both memories she would never forget.
“It was crazy,” she said. “Just a lot of cool cultural things to experience and amazing food, amazing scenery.”
She said her favorite memories from Hawaii included being able to go snorkeling, going to a luau, a Hawaiian feast, and visiting the site of Pearl Harbor. Lonsway said on the other hand, her trip to Colombia was much shorter because she only visited for her step-cousin’s wedding, but she loved immersing herself in the culture even just for a couple of days.
Lonsway said although she is excited to get back to Athens, she will miss the experiences she had this summer and her friends from home during the school year.
“I’ll definitely always remember these trips because they were big ones,” she said. “I guess in terms of my friends at home, they’ll always be on my mind. As much as I do have my community in Athens, it is always hard leaving home and leaving the place you grew up.”
Addie Collard, a sophomore studying theater, said this summer she worked as a host at her local Cuban restaurant. She said she was also lucky enough to see three large-scale concerts including Noah Kahan, Ed Sheeran and Taylor Swift.
She said her favorite concert by far was going to see Taylor Swift and she was very excited when Swift performed “I’m Only Me When I'm With You” as a surprise song because it is one of her favorites.
She said although she will miss summer, she is ready to get back to Athens and create new memories at school.
“I’m definitely really excited to go back to school,” she said. “I'll miss the summer but I will definitely keep the memories with me. I’m also excited to make new memories because I know I carried my memories from my first year with me over the summer so I’m excited to keep the cycle going.”
Hassa Abdullahi, a freshman studying business pre-law as well as sociology and criminology, said her summer before leaving for college was spent trying to cross off bucket list items and spending time with the people she loves most.
She said one of her favorite memories of summer was right before graduation when her friends held a big bonfire and burned all of the notebooks and homework assignments they had been working on that year.
“We had marshmallows and s'mores and it was such a core memory for me because it was one of the last times that that specific group could get together and hang out together before everybody graduated,” she said.
She said other memories included going to the Ohio State Fair and visiting her old elementary school to talk to 6th graders about the future.
“Being able to reconnect with a part of my past that I didn't think that I had any connection to anymore, and then to also talk to younger kids about things that I'm going through right now, like college … and answering their questions about that was just so fulfilling and really wholesome,” she said.
It has been another successful summer for the Bobcats. While the ending is sure to be bittersweet, there are plenty of memories to hold onto and so many more to look forward to this school year.