If you haven’t noticed by now I am the girl on the summer session posters being plastered around campus and the streetcars. I feel lucky to have been chosen as the face of summer session, but I probably won’t be smiling as much during the summer as I am in those posters.

I have mixed emotions about taking summer courses, mostly because I haven’t before. It’s the first time I’m not going home for the summer, and there will be more stress in taking a shorter class that consists of only a couple of weeks rather than 10.

However, summer registration has already begun, and I got all the classes I wanted. I am excited for the empty chairs in the library that will be available once most of the students go off on vacation. And luckily, my husband will be by my side taking classes as well.

Why am I taking summer courses? I’m trying to fulfill my minor requirements, so I can finish that part of my education and focus on my major, the real reason I am here. Crossing my fingers that it will help me graduate earlier than I thought.

So, classmates, what kind of advice do you have for a first-time summer student?

Link for more information on summer session: http://www.pdx.edu/summer/