I’m here to tell you that the end is near. Not the end of the world but the end of this semester (which is almost more terrifying than the end of the world).

With less than two weeks of school left papers are piling up, group projects are being thrown together and finals are being stressed about. It may feel like stress is going to overwhelm you, and during the summertime you vow to take a much needed break from learning, but, my friends, I encourage all of you to continue to learn during the summer.

For me, this year has been crazy. I got a job in the Brookings community, I had at least 15 credits each semester, I was News Editor and then Lifestyles Editor for The Collegian, I was on Cru leadership and I had the inability to say no when asked to help with other organizations.

There were times during this year when I thought to myself that once summer comes I’m to do absolutely nothing; I will sit by a pool, drink gallons of lemonade and read at least thirty books.

But somewhere along the line I heard about an opportunity to study abroad in Spain. I have always wanted to travel and this felt like the perfect opportunity to do that.

The only drawback was that I would be attending class Monday through Friday for four hours each day.

My picture perfect summer of pool-sitting and lemonade-drinking slowly disappeared as images of the Mediterranean Sea and paella took over my mind. I hoped that I would take a break from learning, but instead I’m going to be learning more than just from books. I will be immersed in Spanish culture; I will be leaving my home and learning how to adapt to new situations in a foreign country; I will be learning how to socialize and interact in a language that, even though I’ve studied it for years, still confuses and overwhelms me.

I hoped to have a summer where my brain could rest, but I think this will be even better because I will continue to learn even though I’m not on campus.

Learning shouldn’t stop just because the semester is over. Everyone will be doing different things this summer whether that might be working full-time at a job, completing a school-required or just-for-fun internship, volunteering, traveling–and these are just the start.

I encourage all of you to continue to have the desire to learn. I don’t mean picking up a textbook and reading it mindlessly, but instead taking every opportunity to learn something new. It could be as simple as learning a new fact about a coworker or volunteering and learning that you love to serve. Learning doesn’t need to be this thing you have to do; you should want to learn, that’s why we’re students, at least, that’s why I’m a student. 

So study hard and try to enjoy it, complete all of your required group assignments with a smile and take your finals knowing that your hard work during the semester will finally pay off. Whatever you do this summer, try to continue learning. After all that’s how we will grow as people, but don’t forget to have fun too.

See you in three months SDSU; don’t miss me too much!