This year’s summer break has gotten past the midway point. Hopefully it hasn’t been bogged down with summer classes and extended work hours that make it no less special than any other season. The 100-degree-plus weather does not help either.

While some lucky students get to spend their summer outside the state, or even outside the country, most of us have to stay here.

Just in case you’re suffering from the summertime blues, thinking that this summer is shot and there’s not enough time to do something special, here are a couple of suggestions to help make it just that and possibly the most memorable of them all.

When you got bored around the house in your grade school days, your parents probably told you to go run around outside. Now, you can accomplish that by doing something as simple as running around the block of your apartment complex or to the local park.

Not only does exercise keep you active and off the couch, but it also allows you to meet other people because there’s always someone else running around.

If you make it a habit, you just might meet another person and have a bit of summer love.

Remember those carefree days when you wanted to see every blockbuster movie during the summer but couldn’t manage to get a ride to a theater? Well, hitching rides isn’t too big of a problem in college and you don’t have to wait until the fall to see some of the biggest films of the year. “The Amazing Spider-Man” is out and “The Dark Knight Rises” is due out soon.

Probably the biggest staple of summertime fun is going to the pool. Unless you knew someone that had one in their backyard or lived close enough the county pool, you had no problems. For my friends and I, we’re making up for all of those pool-less summers through our apartment complex’s pool.

Spending a lot of time outside can lead you to suffering from sunburns, which makes your skin peel. The best thing to do if that happens is to stay inside where it’s cool until you’re all healed up. Unless you like to sleep in, you can keep yourself entertained in a variety of ways while treating sunburns, like reading and/or writing for pleasure, instead of for your education.

This is also a good time to catch up on your favorite TV shows, like “Mad Men,” whether you’ve been a longtime or beginning viewer.

If you think you’ve done just about everything you can do in the city, then perhaps it’s time to take a trip outside the city. It can be as simple as a visit with the family or just an out-of-town adventure, like a carnival with rides, games and cotton candy. There’s no better combination than that.

What sets the summer apart from the rest of the year is the better sense of freedom, especially during college. Taking a road trip in the fall and winter season has its perks, but the summer boasts of many more opportunities and much more free schedules for traveling buddies.

Summer break only occurs two-and-a-half months during the year. It’s good for the soul to be adventurous and make fond memories by rekindling that carefree sensibility that made the summer the most relaxed season of them all when you were younger.