by Willy Nichter, Staff Writer
Finals are almost over, and school is about to let out for the semester. While not having any more papers or tests to worry about is a definite relief, there are those who could find themselves at a loss for what to do with their free time. But there’s really no reason to be, especially given the bevy of options that are available. Here is a list of five things that you can do to keep busy over winter break.
- Spend time with friends and family: No matter where you come from, winter break is a fantastic time to catch up and reconnect with your family and friends. Go places with your siblings, have long conversations with your cousins, maybe even chat with your parents now that they’re not badgering you about your work. Plus, you’re probably going to be back home with most of your friends from high school, so if you’ve been keeping in touch, now is a great time to meet back up with them and just talk about old times. Whichever you choose, winter break provides many an opportunity to rediscover and rebuild old relationships, so take advantage of that.
- Go for a drive: If you felt restricted to campus and Madison over your semester, then take advantage of your license and drive around. Go visit old haunts, find new hangouts, or simply go from one end of town to another. It’s an exhilarating experience, and one that provides a sense of freedom and comfort that might be missing after having been cooped up for the better part of a few months.
- Catch up on your interests: You’ve probably spent at least the last month feeling completely overwhelmed by your work, so use your free time to get back involved with your interests. Be it books or music, games or TV shows, go ahead and indulge in everything you might have missed while you were involved with school stuff. It’s fun, it’s comforting and it’s a great way of really getting back into the swing of everyday life. Just don’t go locking yourself in your room and binging three TV seasons in one night. Everything in moderation!
- Keep in touch with your college friends: No one’s saying that you can’t talk to your school friends while you’re back home. Yes, there’s a chance that they could be busy with their own break plans, so maybe don’t bother them every day, but there’s no harm in texting or having a video chat with your friends. Learn more about their lives, their interests, or just get a chance to see them in their natural habitat. It’s a nice way to get away from school without sacrificing the things you enjoyed about it. And speaking of which…
- Plan for the new semester: I know, I know, this isn’t really fun per say, but hear me out. Winter break is really fun, but there is still another semester after it, and some preparations should be made. Even if it’s a simple as getting your textbooks a couple days early from Amazon so that you can get a jumpstart on the course material, taking some time to plan out how you’re going to handle the work, working out how you’re going to avoid making whatever mistakes you may have made this semester and planning to come back to school prepared and ready to handle whatever school throws at you. You should definitely make it count
Those are five ways that you can spend your time over winter break. They’re far from the only ways, and but they’re useful, productive and that definitely work well to ensure a fun time away from school. Whether it be spending time with loved ones or just taking time for yourself, winter break is meant to be a time to recover from the stresses of the semester, so make the most of it so that when school starts again, you’re ready to face it.
