I spent my summer in Athens, Greece waking up early to volunteer and partying through the night on repeat. Opportunities like this where I’m not only helping people, but having fun seemed so out of reach before and something you’d see girls post about on TikTok, but never partake in.
Going into the summer, I wanted to make the most of my free time and do something beneficial. I applied to a volunteer program in Greece where we worked hands-on with refugee children and collected fresh food for families who couldn’t afford it with other non-profit organizations. It felt so good knowing I was helping others.
Going into it, however, what I didn’t know was that I’d bond so deeply with the other volunteers who made it such a great experience. While volunteering, we’d have so much fun working together. Finding moments to bond while losing our minds in unairconditioned buses or running to our next volunteer activity when it unexpectedly torrential downpoured was a kind of miserable fun.
Outside of volunteering we’d get late dinners together at picturesque restaurants and spend the night bar-hopping our way through the city. We got to talk to so many different people and try so many new things together. Staying up till 4 a.m. then waking up the next day at 7 a.m. to volunteer for weeks straight seems like such a miserable experience, but truly left me even more refreshed and ready to start my day.
This proved to me and anyone else who needs to hear it that experiences like such aren’t hard to find if you just go out and look for them.
We truly are only young once and should spend our summers not only doing something because it looks “good on a resume,” but, instead, partake in experiences we’re passionate about. So many of my friends and I put pressure on ourselves during summer to continue that Berkeley grind, even though summer’s a built-in break.
So my main takeaway from all this is that you can do something beneficial for your future career, while also enjoying every minute of it. This opportunity was really life-changing and every person needs that summer movie moment experience.