Lifeguarding in your hometown, interning in a city that’s hot, keeping it low-key at camp.  Staying local in the city that houses your alma mater, traveling on your own to somewhere new and exciting, or surprising yourself by exploring a place you’ve felt like you already conquered.  Regardless of how you spent your summer, it probably had a few things in common with the rest of ours.

May gave us beautiful weather and, for returning students, consisted of final exams and papers that kept us up late in the library, spending our money — or Wavebuck$ — on PJ’s coffee and vending-machine energy drinks while dreading the end of the school year. Incoming freshmen were busy acquiring as much Tulane gear as possible while enjoying the last bits of high school. For the rest of us, coming home from finals initially felt like a blessing, but quickly the “Goodbye NOLA” posts swarmed our feeds, and we realized we didn’t want our stress-induced wishes to go home to come true. 

Every time we saw a Tik Tok of or a meme referencing Lil Nas X’s hit song “Old Town Road,” we were reminded of its role as the theme song for every frat party. We thought we could leave the song at Tulane, not anticipating that it would follow us throughout the summer through social media. 

June brought with it the calmness of summer, but both lighthearted pop culture and weighty politics would soon dominate the interweb. The end of June saw the first Democratic presidential primary debate, and we were reminded of the divisions that burden our country. At the same time, on the second night of the debate, a totally unrelated incident came to our attention. Matty Roberts, a California resident, posted a seemingly insignificant Facebook post calling people to raid Area 51, a top-secret Air Force facility in Nevada. The Facebook event currently has 2 million people RSVP’d as attending. Memes about the raid are still floating around social media and probably will be until Sept. 20, the date the raid is scheduled to occur.

The aliens at Area 51 waiting on that “we outside” text 💀 pic.twitter.com/HJECAOdgp6

— Juan Jose (@juanjose7_) July 12, 2019

It’s unclear what caught our attention faster in July, Hurricane Barry or the Hot Girl Summer trend. While Barry made headlines, it fortunately didn’t cause severe damage to New Orleans, but it did flood the streets around our beloved Boot Bar and Grill — and we’re upset about it. 

But something we’re not upset about is Hot Girl Summer. If you haven’t heard of the famous hashtag, you may be confused by the meaning of the phrase. As defined by its creator, Megan thee Stallion, Hot Girl Summer is about “just being you, just having fun” and being in charge of your own happiness. We’re loving the message it preaches.

what is hot girl summer is that just slang for when its so hot in the car ur thighs stick to the seat

— catie turner (@hashtagcatie) July 10, 2019

We don’t have to get into City Boy Summer.

August is bittersweet, starting off gloomy with the thought of summer coming to a close but gradually getting more hopeful, brewing up an excitement to come home to our beautiful campus in the extraordinary city of YES.

The Arcade section of The Tulane Hullabaloo hopes your summer was fabulous and that you’re happy to be home.