Image by Camera Eye Photography, Flickr
Stuck on campus this Reading Week? With most students away on holiday, it can be hard to stay positive and productive on an empty campus. Get out of bed and make the most of your vacation with these eleven tips:
- Find people.
- Having trouble focusing on that paper due Monday? Set a deadline.
- Stay on track.
- Get started on the summer job hunt.
- Finally get to the gym.
- Explore.
- Get out.
- Set up camp in a coffee shop.
- Try a technology detox.
- Take yourself out on a date.
- Read a new book.
You’re probably not the only one left on campus. Find out who else is on campus and make plans to see a movie, study together, or just hang out.
Email some friends and family members asking them to edit your work, and tell them you’ll send it to them at a certain date and time. Accountability will push you to get it done.
If some of your professors or TAs are still on campus, this might be the perfect opportunity to check in with them and discuss your schoolwork. Email to set up an appointment.
Your university website probably has a job board page. Also try government sites or company websites for internships. Buy a nice notebook and fill it with options. Refine your resume, and make a cover letter template. You’ll thank yourself later when your friends are scrambling to apply for jobs during spring exams.
Endorphins will make you feel positive and energized. Try out the pool, if there is one – it’s the closest thing on campus to a warm beach!
Check out that one café you haven’t been to yet. Print out a map of your city and circle three locations with a marker – museums, cafés, stores – and draw a line connecting them. Bundle up, and go!
If your university is smaller, in a rural area, try a nature walk or hike. If you’re snowed in, try building a snowman, snow fort, or having a snowball fight with your friends.
Bring your reading materials and let the java jive. If you’re with some friends, bring a few board games.
You don’t have classes or as many obligations as you usually do. Put aside your gadgets for a full day.
Dinner, movie, the works. If you’re not comfortable eating alone in public, bring a book or an iPad. The time of day when restaurants are emptiest is between 10am and 3pm.
Not a school book – a fantasy, adventure, or mystery. You’ll have a refreshed mindset after reading about another literary world.