Another year comes with a lot of new responsibility and work especially with the new grading policy. With summer still in the back of our minds we’re all facing that dreadful Back to School funk.

This past summer was probably the best summer I’ve had in a while. I traveled to Costa Rica with my best friend for two weeks, and I went to Keuka Lake for a week with two of my closest friends, Anna Jerrems (’18) and Lily Cavallaro (’18).

Costa Rica was by far the longest flight I’ve been on. Even though it was only five hours, it was the longest five hours of my life, especially sitting next to Lily. But it was worth the miserable flight when we finally arrived at the most beautiful place I’ve ever been to.

We were driven to our condo called “Playa De Flamingo” which was right on the ocean. The beach was short and private with glistening white sand and turquoise water. We spent most of our time at the beach exploring the wildlife there. Lily and I found small hermit crabs the size of peas crawling on the beach.

Since we didn’t stay in a resort, we spoke Spanish (not very well) to the native speakers. My mom, for the most part, did all the speaking since my dad only knows simple words in Spanish. Our sleeping schedule was the only thing that was a little weird since it is two hours earlier there. We also went white water rafting right below an active volcano and jumped off one of the waterfalls there.

Leaving Costa Rica was one of the hardest vacations I have had to say goodbye to. When we got back home a couple days later Lily, Anna, and I drove to Keuka Lake. The place that the Cavallaro’s rented was two separate houses right on the water. They brought their jet-ski, boat, kayaks, and paddle boards.

We spent every day outside on the water or tanning on the dock. Tubing was the highlight of our trip because Anna, Lily, and I would squeeze on to one tube and then Lily’s dad would see who could flip off first, and it would always be Lily.

When we came home from the lake, reality started to check in, and we all had to get back in to the routine. Volleyball had started back up for me and cross country tryouts began for them, so we had to start slowly preparing for school. Looking back at photos from these trips makes me wish I was still sinking my toes in the white sand and falling into the clear water at the lake. These are my back to school blues.