There are a lot of reasons to be in Chapel Hill after May: summer school, work or simply living out a lease. Whatever keeps you confined to our idyllic town this summer, you may as well make the most of it.
Chapel Hill in the summer is a unique place. Most students ship out, and a lot of CTOPers ship in. It’s a strange mix of current students, townies, and a Carolina blue sea of overzealous future freshmen. Like oil and water, right?
Understandably, this strange summer mix makes for a special night life downtown. The weather is great to sit outside at Top of the Hill, no one really has a high workload and (most) incoming freshman won’t be found in bars.
But maybe drinking isn’t your thing, or maybe you just need something to do during the day.
The iconic Fridays on the Front Porch returns on April 29. Not only is it free, but there’s plenty of great live entertainment.
Assuming you want to get your tan on, there are plenty of local pools. It’s a killer Foursquare opportunity: Become mayor of all of the pools in town. There’s gotta be a badge for that, right?
But, of course, there’s something for the misanthrope in all of us. Consider biking along the scenic nearby trails. Or go, either alone or with a group, to the N.C. Botanical Garden. I’ll bet most people reading this column had no clue it was even near UNC.
And that’s really sort of the beauty of summer. Either through genuine curiosity or mind-numbing boredom, you feel compelled to branch out and do the things you have never really done before. And in the age of Google, there’s really no excuse for not finding something new and local.
The moral of the story is that no matter who you are or why you’re here, there’s a way to make Chapel Hill the place for you.
