Give Me Hope - New Politics

(link to song)
If I had to choose a single song that reminds me most of last summer, it would be this one, without a doubt. Why?

Last summer, I was unfortunate enough to have to attend summer school for Algebra 2. I almost failed the second semester of the course during the year, and that was far too embarrassing to keep on my transcripts, so I decided I should retake it as soon as possible. While it was only for about three weeks, it (of course) seemed like forever. However, it wasn't nearly as bad as I had expected- the teacher would instruct for about ten minutes, and then the rest of the daily four hours would consist of me listening to music on my phone and doing practice work. The class was full of some very interesting characters, which kept it from ever being a boring day. Although I did have to wake up early for a lot of the summer, it was worth it because by the time I would come home from class, all of my friends would just then be waking up, and they'd come over and swim in the pool with me all day.

What kept me motivated through the daily lessons was this one thing I had been looking forward to for all of summer and for much of the school year: on the last day of summer school, I was seeing Fall out Boy, Paramore, and New Politics at Merriweather Post Pavilion with about five or six of my best friends. These were three of my absolute favorite bands at the time, and I could not wait to be able to see them in concert again. Every day in class I would listen to all of their songs in order to prepare myself for the show, and the one that stuck with me most and gives me the most memories of the summer was "Give Me Hope", probably because of the fact that it talks about summer in the very first line.

Finally, the day came. I took my final exam for Algebra 2, speeding through it as I anticipated the concert later that night.

As soon as we made it into the venue, we all sat down on the lawn, and one of my friends started ferociously ripping at his quilt, trying to yank it open from a small, sewn-together part that appeared to be a rip at some point. Once he got it open, he used his arm to search inside for five cleverly hidden bottles of a rather distinct-tasting Gin and Dr. Pepper concoction. We all began drinking right away, and by the time New Politics came on, I was already rather intoxicated. I remember feeling nothing other than pure bliss, and thinking to myself over and over, "this is literally the happiest I have ever been in my entire life". Although that was most definitely not true, it worked for the moment, and was all that mattered to me at the moment. For every song New Politics played, I was singing at the top of my lungs (and dancing too), while everybody else was sitting down. I was somehow aware of how stupid I looked, but I didn't care. I was so fucking happy and I didn't care who could tell!

The night went on and was everything I expected and more. It was a perfect way to end the summer, and a perfect way to reward myself for surviving summer school.

This song in itself "gives me hope"- hope that even though this year has pretty much been absolute hell for me, I will get better by the time summer comes around and will be able to find that same level of happiness again. Hope that despite my anxiety, depression, ADD, and insomnia problems, I will find joy again and be able to spend my last summer living here as happy as I have spent all the former ones. Hope that I will find myself again and be able to start college as who I really am, and not as that one depressed girl.