Spring break is around the corner if it's not already here for some of you. I've been looking forward to finally having some time for myself where I get to spend the entire day doing what I want and not having to worry about the six papers I have to write the day before two midterm exams. Perhaps school has caused you to short circuit, making you forget what actual fun is that doesn't involve a calculator, flash cards or the painful experience of buying printer ink. Worry not, for hopefully I can jog your memory on what personal enjoyment and F.U.N. are.
1. Pet my dog
Some of you may have missed the most important support structure in your family: The pets. If you follow me on Peach, you know that I had a few nights were my little buddy would have made my studying breaks a whole lot more restorative. Now we have time for all the walks and games of fetch that we can fit in a week. Perhaps you have something else, like a cat, a snake or even a hedgehog, and now you have the chance to show them some love with a celebratory pat on the back. Maybe not for the hedgehog, though. In that case, just give them a toilet paper roll tube and watch them go.
2. Read for fun
Most of us are in school and we do a butt load of reading each week. But are any of us really enjoying ourselves? Unless you're sexually attracted to numbers, I don't think your math textbook or economic theory guide are truly making you as pumped up as you wish they would. Fear not! With all the free time you have, you can sit down with a nice biography or work of fiction, and let your mind truly wander in another world, someplace where acronyms like GPA and BAL don't exist!
3. Eating good food
I don't know about you, but my campus dining experience is 15 percent tasty, healthy food, 25 percent junk and 60 percent razor blades. Seriously, pork sausage patties will cut up your insides. But enough of my whining, I'm so happy I get home cooked meals from my mom and the chance to go to all my favorite hometown restaurants. Have you had homemade chicken divan? Now's the perfect chance to get your parents to try out a new recipe if you can't cook yourself.
4. Sleeping like a king
Sleep is a rare commodity for myself at school. I find it hard to reach that nocturnal haven with all of the assignments and tests that I could be doing, not to mention volunteering. If you're like me, you're going to spend a day or two doing nothing but drifting in and out of REM with small food and bathroom breaks coming along every few hours. You'll wake up in the next few days refreshed and feeling like a normal human being, and not a zombie mumbling, "Mitochondria is the powerhouse of the cell..."
5. Touring the old stomping grounds
I missed my town. I don't know all the places to go in Fredericksburg, but here in Arlington, I know exactly where I am. I know all the places for good smoothies, the best hole in the wall coffee shops, and if you need a solid meatball sub or some dank Puerto Rican chicken, I'm your guy. Back home, I know exactly where to go each day, and that familiarity feels just right.
6. Seeing old friends
Maybe you had a bad time in high school, maybe you barely made it out of that culling battleground alive, but more likely you had an alright time from 9th to 12th grade, and you made some decent friends that you keep in touch with today. If your spring breaks happen to line up with each other.
7. Video games
I haven't touched a controller in six weeks. Now that I'm back home, I can brush the dust off of my Xbox One and dive into the world of Lara Croft. It's nice to actually see a female character wearing a turtleneck and some kevlar, but maybe that's not your thing. Maybe you're a "2K Sports" fan, or you're turning dudes into spear-pincushions in "Far Cry Primal." Whatever it is you're doing in the virtual world, enjoy it. Revel in the polygonal fun, for you might not have time to do so until summer!
8. Skateboarding
This is probably a very, very small percentage of my readers, but it's what I'm looking forward to with this 60 degree East Coast weather. At least three days are going to be spent entirely at the skate park as I polish the rust off my skating muscles, aiming for those buttery kickflips and smooth as silk ollies I had during winter break. If that's not your thing, you're probably looking forward to going hiking with your friends or you're at the beach paddleboarding as your dog swims next to you. It could be fishing, archery, martial arts — whatever the sport is you've sacrificed for academics and college life, you get to live it for the next few days.
9. All that over-break homework
Of course, I had to save the best for last. Aren't we all just relishing the art projects and science labs we need to complete while we're supposed to be home relaxing? Don't throw your books into the corner of your closet too soon, for you'll need to look at them at some point over the break; your professors guarantee it. What, you thought you wouldn't have to do anything while you were getting plastered at the beach?
