Summer, just a year ago, was a time for beaches, islands, and palm trees – or when not taking on any outdoor activities – eating in bed and generally being lazy. It was the time for ‘fun’, a whole two months of the fun and freedom that students yearned for all year. But our lives changed as we passed through middle school, through ninth and tenth grades, and so, along with it, our summer.

Its ‘fun’ has now dressed itself in a work uniform. My summers have definitely followed this changing trend. This year I decided to attend academy classes instead of getting myself stranded at my grandparents’ house — a peaceful, green and fresh area – but also a very boring place if you stay there for too long like I did in the past. And surprisingly, despite the ‘extra studying’ and ‘hardcore homework’ that I used to considered torture, I’m now getting some ‘fun’ out of this stuff.

This change in summer seems to be contagious. Not all the pictures I see on Facebook are of people in their bikinis at the beach, or of them posing in the middle of Times Square. Now I see pictures of my friends, quite a few actually, standing by the signs of the clothes shops they have just been hired in; or wearing black cooking aprons that read ‘Fryday’; or with their faces covered up by large white masks, wearing light blue hospital uniforms.

Many of my friends have gotten summer jobs, and many others, like me, have chosen to attend classes to review the things we learned in school, or perhaps to ready ourselves for the vicious IB courses awaiting us. These hard workers go through busier schedules than those of normal school days, but nearly all of them also show great satisfaction and enjoyment. One of them even goes so far as to claim that it’s her “best summer ever”.

“I wake up early to go to work,” my friend says, “returning home all worn out. But it’s all so much fun! Especially when I see the mirror, I see a girl in her work clothes, and she looks so much older… older in a good, pleasant way.” Hearing her words, this new, exotic image of our summer now seems somewhat clearer. My friends, even those who I thought the laziest people when it comes to school work, have magically transformed into devoted and diligent rookies at work. They are no longer the kids who hate and avoid all form of work and duty, or those who fly off to shallow entertainment at a beach or in a shopping center during the break.

These friends of mine, awkwardly opening shop doors for their customers or clumsily balancing dishes with both hands, or even sitting at a desk taking notes in a lecture, all seem so mature, like the adults they’re want to become. It’s almost as if our summer break isn’t really a ‘break’ anymore, but a short internship in adulthood. — Moby Dick