Students fine social life differs over summer

While most students fled campus in mid-May, many remain on campus for the summer. "Everybody's gone," complained College junior Shannon Bisbee, who is staying around to take a course in underage drinking. And with a smaller number of students on campus, there are fewer activities available for them to engage in. Many students noted that fraternities, sororities and other organizations are less active over the summer. Yun Sheng Liu, a College freshman and member of the Kappa Sigma fraternity, said the social life during the summer is "somewhat boring [because] you don't have frat parties." But despite the diminished amount of activities, most students reported that they enjoy the University over the summer more than during the rest of the academic year. Wharton junior Paul Wylie agreed, adding that the course load during the summer is not as intense. "The summer is much calmer and less stressful, with a lot more free time," he said. With fewer people around, University students have come up with alternative ways to have fun over the weekends. Yaakov Mandelbaum, a recent graduate, said that during the summer he does "a lot more things in the open," such as dining on "the Green" and taking walks. He added that he has the time to regularly cook in his apartment, giving him the opportunity to sharpen his culinary skills. But some students reported that without friends around, the social life can get pretty boring. "It's kind of dead if you don't know people who live here during the summer," College of General Studies senior Susan Siegel said. "I don't bother taking time to find interesting things to do, night-life wise." And campus life can be different, even for students with established groups of friends. While College sophomore Nilam Patel and her friends do not "go clubbing" on weekends anymore, they find other ways to spend their time. "This weekend everybody cooked dinner together and little things like that," she explained. And the benefits abound if you are old enough to legally drink. Engineering School graduate Alex Gizis said he and his friends enjoy the summer because, "we've got the bars more to ourselves." "It's not so crowded and obnoxious," he said.

Please note All comments are eligible for publication in The Daily Pennsylvanian.