Princeton shines brighter after a summer away

I forgot how much fun it is being a student. I forgot what it was like taking classes from CIA agents and esteemed writers, staying up late with my friends and partying into the waning hours of darkness. I thought summer would be a refreshing break, but three months is a long time to be away from somewhere you call home nine months a year. It's easy to forget the things that make you happy in favor of those that scare you, and to be honest, at the end of last year, the prospect of returning as a sophomore seemed less than thrilling. Freshman year was so new and bright and exciting; sophomore year just sounded serious and staid. But those three months of summer frivolity made me realize just how fortunate I was to be a Princeton student and just how exciting sophomore status would be.

My summer began with a walk through reunions amidst an array of flamboyant garments, smiles and enthusiasm. Everyone had come together to celebrate Princeton and to show their appreciation to their class and to the school. More amazing than the endless tapping of kegs was just how many alumni enjoyed coming back to Princeton. People from all over the country and all over the world, had stopped what they were doing and had come to bask once again under the New Jersey sky that had given them more than an education. That day instilled in me a feeling of overwhelming Tiger pride; a school that can have the highest alumni giving rate of any other school in the nation has to be doing something right.

From reunions I took in a more of what Princeton had to offer when I signed up for the Princeton in Italy program. With fifteen other bright-eyed Princeton students, I traveled to a tiny town on the Adriatic coast called Macerata in order to refine our linguistic skills and soak up some of the Italian culture. Now many of you thing that "Rocks for Jocks" or "Physics for Poets" is the most painless way to get a Princeton credit, let me assure you that you have been highly misled. While my mornings were spent studying grammar in ninety degree heat our afternoons were spent touring the countryside or being comatose on the beaches. Our weekends were spent riding the trains from Milan to Florence to Capri, it was hard work I can assure you.

To wrap up my summer, I spent time in New York interning at a law firm. While the work was interesting and highly rewarding, I just couldn't wait to get back to being a student again and to take advantage of all that Princeton has to offer. It made me fully appreciate what President Tilgh-man meant when she said in her address last week, "the next four years will be among the happiest years of your life but they will also be the most fleeting. So make the most of them."

And so for the last three months, all that had been on my mind was lemonade and flip flops, beaches and bermudas, early mornings in sand-traps, late nights in the Bronx. Then, without warning, I wake up one morning red-eyed and groggy from the unremitting partying of freshman week, and I'm in a lecture hall with crisp notebooks and fresh pens on a Monday morning and staring at clock that reads eight-thirty. With the seemingly eternal fun of last week slowly settling back to routine, the reality of sophomore year — without the fluffy title of "freshman" to lead me through my trepidation — is a somewhat daunting prospect. My summer, however, solidified my belief in how fortunate I am to be a part of such an exceptional place and to still be only a sophomore in college. Regardless of some of the monumental and daunting decisions that I will have to confront at some point during the year — the eating clubs in January or deciding my major come May — I love being back at college and, moreover I love being back at Princeton.

Chris Berger is a sophomore from London.