For seniors, the weeks between graduation and college move-in carry a particular weight — too short to waste and too long to hold their breath through. This summer, students are filling that space with symphonies, surfboards, part-time jobs and flights abroad. However, underneath each plan is the quiet reckoning of who they’ve been in high school and who they’re about to become in college.

The feelings universally resist easy categorization. Excitement and nervousness go together in roughly equal measure, according to senior Daniel Cooper, who is heading to Northwestern University for music performance and economics. Cooper tries to find the balance between conflicting feelings about transitioning to college.

“I feel like it will be very scary, and in college, I’ll definitely miss my high school days when I look back with a nostalgic lens,” Cooper said. “But I’m ready for the next step.”

That inevitable adjustment to dorms, dining halls and a social scene that no longer comes pre-sorted by ZIP code, looms large for many. However, for others like senior Abhi Kotari, who looks forward to finding that new community as a Computer Engineering major at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, the transition reads as inevitable and a step that simply needs to be taken.

“I’ll still be able to talk to and visit my family,” Kotari said. “Same with my high school friends. They’re not just going to disappear.”

Nonetheless, Kotari said what he’ll miss the most is the particular way a high school consolidates around a shared moment, event and experience. Events much like Homecoming still exist at college, but it fragments across a bigger campus and a larger student body, thus relinquishing the unified school-wide quality that makes it feel like something everyone is doing together.

For senior Tashvi Bansal, who is heading out of state for college, the unfamiliarity of a new place, people and routines as well as no existing social scaffolding — is a new challenge. Moreover, the friends she has made in one place over the last four years won’t be able to follow her into the fresh start in college.

“It’s a completely new environment,” Bansal said. “The people there will have different backgrounds, and a lot of people will be in-state students while I’m out-of-state. I’m going to miss being in the Cupertino bubble that I’ve been in for the last four years. Cupertino definitely keeps you sheltered: You have your parents with you throughout high school. I’m going to miss them, and I’m going to miss all the familiar places.”

The practical work of preparing for college — researching courses, connecting with roommates, attending orientation — has given some seniors a foothold against uncertainty. Others, like Cooper, are approaching it more philosophically, choosing presence over preparation.

“I’m just trying to prepare emotionally and mentally,” Cooper said. “I’m telling myself that this is the right path for me and that I’ll be OK, wherever I go and whatever I do.”

Bansal echoes a similar sentiment. Beyond preparing by researching her school, she plans to treat this summer as one of the last stretches of time that belong entirely to her, before she steps into another intense environment.

“My goal for the summer is to maximize all the relaxing time, since it’s probably gonna be the last summer in the next four years that I’ll get that time to relax and re-energize,” Bansal said. “I’m trying to table those other expectations and pressures.”

Kotari, too, has kept his goals for the summer modest: rest, time with friends, maybe learning some new tricks on his skateboard before everyone goes their separate ways. The common thread among seniors is the awareness that this particular window — where high school is finished but college hasn’t yet started — is finite. It feels different from all summers before because of the people and places they’ve grown to know and are about to leave behind. The decisions about majors, roommates and course schedules can wait, according to Cooper.

“I want to remember just how grateful I am for the people around me and being able to know where I’m going,” Cooper said. “I want that peace of mind, being able to live freely without any of those worries bothering me.”