Nice to see you again.
Welcome back to Gainesville, everybody. Wasn’t that a nice little break we had? We hope you spent it doing the nicest things imaginable. Whether it was visiting family, reuniting with friends, floating down a river with a cool drink in your hand or getting eight hours of sleep for once, we hope it was every bit of the relaxation-fun-fulfillment you deserve.
But now that we’re back in Gainesville and at UF, life is about to get ... different. Because this is a “welcome back” editorial, we’ll do our best to focus on the sunnier side of Summer sessions: not classes, papers, the fact that it rains nearly every afternoon and the sweat. Oh, mercy, the sweat.
We’d rather pay attention to what makes summertime Gainesville a great place to be and leave out the obvious detractions. It’s actually something to get excited for. In its own way, summer is a magical time. It means leaving behind what for most of us is a dreary heat-soaked hometown for this weird little bubble of culture, intellect and youthful hedonism we’ve all come to love so much.
That’s another nice part: It’s not like you’re alone here. UF’s usual population dwindles in the Summer semesters, but there remains a ton of people to meet and have fun with. The city isn’t so swelled up with people, so it’s a bit more relaxed and you won’t have to wait in line anywhere. Freshmen, this means you’ll be able to find your way around and know what’s what before things get truly hectic.
As for school being something to dread and groan at: Yeah, working sucks. Obviously, we’d all rather just watch shows and live in bed. But that doesn’t line up with reality, y’all. Life isn’t a float down on Ginnie Springs (side note: anyone who knows how to make life that easy is requested to contact the Alligator editorial staff immediately). We are students, after all, so whether you genuinely like learning or if you just want to get ahead and graduate a little earlier, being in school is the best thing you could be doing for yourself at the moment. You can complain, but that won’t fool anyone.
So that’s how it is. It may suck a bit to give up some of those glorious days off, but in the long run, we’ll all be better for it. Yes, this is the semester when UF’s decision to exist on top of a literal swamp seems the most outrageous. And yeah, we could easily choose to view Summer sessions as one long, sweaty trudge through Turlington, where the rain itself is somehow also hot.
But who would want to do that?
[A version of this story ran on page 6 on 5/12/15]
