August marks the end of my summer break and the start of the fall semester. I’m bummed that summer break is over. The weeks leading up to school weren’t as relaxing as I would have liked. Things picked up at work which left me with little free time. Despite all the stress, my first week of school went well. None of my teachers went easy on us and I ended the week with a lot of homework. For the fall semester, I’m taking general. biology and lab, intro to psychology, dynamics of health, and health disparities in the U.S.

My summer break will be coming to an end soon. It was a nice break away from juggling both school and work. Unlike last year I was able to get out and do stuff. Last year, I spent my whole summer working a job that I hated. There was no traveling or fun events. It was mainly me sitting on the couch watching Tik Tok videos, being depressed, and watching anime. This year, I made a summer bucket list and crossed a few things off the list. Here’s how my summer break went.

For my birthday this year, I took a day trip down to Colorado Springs to explore and take on the Manitou Incline. It’s located in Manitou Springs and gains 2,000 feet of elevation from start to finish. It’s a total of 2,768 steps and one tough workout. Most people want to go out for a nice dinner or spend time with their families. Not me, I wanted to challenge myself and climb some stairs. My day started at 4 am because my reservation for the Manitou Incline was at 6:30 am, and I wanted to see the Garden of the Gods before tackling the incline.

May marked the end of the spring semester and the start of summer break. Bring on the fun! The last few months have mainly been focused on both work and school, so it’s been nice to get out of my routine. In May, I went hiking with one of my friends to Staunton State Park. It’s about a thirty-minute drive from Denver. We spent most of the day hiking through the mountains and before heading home grabbed a bite to eat. Hiking is something I love doing, but haven’t done a lot of lately. When I live in Kansas City there weren’t a lot of nearby hiking spots. If you wanted to get out and good for a good hike you had to drive out a few hours to do so. May was also a month of self-reflection.

April marked my final month of the spring semester. I was hard at work on my final projects and meet with an academic advisor to plan for the fall semester. I turned in my last assignment on May 10th. It marked the end of the semester and the start of summer break. My first semester had its ups and downs, but I made it through it. There were days that I wanted to throw in the towel, and I was beyond tired and overwhelmed. Coming home late from work, then staying up late to study and work on assignments was exhausting. I graduated back in 2012 with my associate degree. I had always wanted to go back to school, but I kept putting it off. When I decided to go back, I was nervous. It had been years since I wrote an easy or took a quiz.