Other cultures have calendars that differ from the traditional January—December calendar commonplace in the United States. The Chinese calendar starts in what would be February on our calendar, and in the world of the college student, the year begins in August. Whether we want it to or not, our summer is coming to an end and another year is about to begin. As we raced out of our last classes to the awaiting summer, our minds were abuzz with all we hoped it would be. We looked forward to catching up with family and friends we hadn’t seen for most of the year, and to finally getting that fabled eight-hour night of sleep we missed all semester.

As the last weeks of summer disappear, I find myself in a panic of should-haves. Over the course of this summer, I, like many others, have broken promises with myself. Since I was only home for a short while, I don’t think I got to do as much catching up with friends and family as I wished I could have. The list of books I had wanted to read has gone virtually untouched, and the books I have read have taken me forever to get through. The brand-new running shoes I bought at the beginning of summer — while finally out of the box — still look almost spotless.

I have been keeping myself on my toes with my internship, so I guess I can admit that it wasn’t all a loss. The skills I have picked up and the networking I have done this summer add to glory of the resume enhancement the program gave me. But yet, even while living in the nation’s capital, and the college student’s interning capital, there are many things I have yet to do. Even though this summer has been my first visit to Washington, D.C., there are many tourist sites I have neglected to see while living here for the past couple of months. I would be a horrible museum intern if I hadn’t gotten good experience with the countless museums and galleries in the area, but I haven’t paid much attention to the landmarks, except as using them as literal landmarks for running.

People often freak out about not accomplishing their new year’s resolutions, and students and faculty alike are coming to a realization that our time is running out — another school year is about to begin. But speaking personally, I don’t think I am a total screw-up on my summer goals. Sure, I haven’t conquered them, but I don’t think that there are any I’ve totally ignored. Even though I may have spent a month getting hung up on the teenage book a fellow intern gave me to read, I still read it. Maybe I haven’t given up on procrastination completely, but I am not waiting until the absolute last minute to do things. At least not most of the time.

While I am holding a personal grudge with Father Time for having this summer pass by so quickly, it’s been pretty awesome and I haven’t been totally worthless. After spending my entire lifetime living on an island, I moved to the Midwest. So just existing in this city, with the high cost of living and its near over-population, has been a success. While I originally felt this summer was a bust, I have come to realize that it’s just another one of those situations where the outcome is what you make of it.

If your parents tell you you wasted the summer sleeping on their couch, in reality you were just catching up on lost sleep. All those late-night hours you slaved away at your second job were necessary in building a nest egg so that you won’t have to worry (as much) about your finances when the semester starts and professors pile the assignments up. And even though I’d wanted to spend my summer on the beaches of Hawai’i, I have instead protected myself from skin cancer by spending all my time indoors as a Washington intern. While I’ll admit to usually being a pessimist, I’ve found that optimism can be refreshing from time to time.

The sleepy town of Ames is about to begin stirring with college students starting up new leases and securing new jobs. Freshmen and their parents are going to crowd the stores looking for dorm junk. The crows are heading back to Lake Laverne to man their posts, ready for another year of student target-bombing. Maybe it won’t be so horrible to end this summer, after all. At least not until it’s time to buy textbooks again.