By Paola, 16, sophomore
As we head into summer, students everywhere are getting a huge case of senioritis. They’re procrastinating on homework, sleeping in class and trying to stay far away from the teacher as possible. It’s natural to feel this way because we’re anxious to start summer vacation and be free for nine weeks. The most studious of students are winding down, getting out their flip-flops and probably their passports, too.
I’ve already got senioritis – yes, at the end of my sophomore year – and have had it since around April. My teachers are piling on homework to get everything done in their benchmark, but I’m just thinking about one thing – summer.
I’m anxious because I’m going to Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic. I was born there and moved to the United States when I was around 5 years old. It’ll be nice seeing my family, especially my younger cousins. Being there will be a dramatic change because I speak mostly English here, but over there it’ll be pure Spanish. That’s the best part of it – going back to that authenticity and close-knit family.
During my time there, I plan to study Italian at a school close to my grandmother’s house. It’s always been an interest of mine to learn Italian because of its close relation to Spanish. Plus, I figured this is the best time to do it because I’ll have more free time. I also plan to work in my aunt’s bakery, which she recently opened near her house. My responsibilities will include baking cheesecake, sponge cake and other delicacies, boxing the pastries and delivering them with my uncles. I’ll get paid the equivalent of about $30 to work seven to nine hours a day.
There would be a lot of pressure on me to find a job if I didn’t have it covered by my aunt. Now that I’m getting older, my parents want me to learn more about responsibility and how to fend for myself. The pesos I get from over there I’ll transfer to dollars once I’m back. I plan to buy a new iPod touch 32GB to replace the one I lost a couple of months ago.
I’m really going to miss my friends because I won’t see them the entire summer. One of my friends is going to Italy, which is kind of ironic because I’ll be learning the language at the same time she’s visiting the country. Another friend is going on a road trip to all of the states except Hawaii.
After summer vacation, it’s back to school, back to papers, back to pencils and back to teachers who really couldn’t care less about the class until a couple of weeks before a major test or just to finish their benchmarks. Congratulations, we’re that much closer to the summer of 2012.
“And so with the sunshine and the great bursts of leaves growing on the trees, just as things grow in fast movies, I had that familiar conviction that life was beginning over again with the summer.” ― F. Scott Fitzgerald, The Great Gatsby