Making the Most of Spring Break at Home
Winter quarter is officially over, and I am ready for a nice break! With that, I wanted to go home to see my family, so I opted to not go on a whole trip this year. It is easy to just rot on the couch and binge shows for all of a break (speaking from experience) and while that is fun, you still want to make the most of your time away from school. Here are my top tips for having a fun and semi-productive spring break!
1. Take time to reset
Given that DePaul is on a 10-week track for each quarter, our days are jam-packed. I tend to allocate all of my free time for catching up with my friends, so by the end of the quarter I just want some me-time: focusing on relaxing, unwinding, and just recharging that social battery. Spring break is an ideal opportunity for that reset. It can be coffee dates with yourself, maybe some self-care, and recentering. This is also where binge-watching shows is at its peak. Enjoy your time with no deadlines!
2. Work on Internship Applications
I know that break is a break, but it also gives time for housekeeping. As I am approaching senior year, it is prime time for internships. Personally, internship applications and searching feels like a full-time job, which is something I can’t always stack successfully with my actual jobs and coursework. With spring break I can take time to just sit and work through the search process. It is a prime opportunity to get most of it done and go into the spring quarter completely stress-free.
3. Meet up with Friends
While I may not be traveling to Cabo or California or anywhere wild (if you are though, enjoy it for me!), that doesn’t mean that I can’t still have a blast with friends. I was lucky in that my hometown friends have a similar break schedule this year, so we can all reconnect and enjoy little adventures. We fully support coffee hangouts so our local shop will see us quite a bit and hear all of the juicy happenings from each of our semesters/quarters. Enjoy this opportunity now before everyone is off tackling internships or full-time summer jobs!
4. Explore your Hobbies
As I mentioned before, I am not always the best at balancing alone time with socializing, so I struggle with sticking to hobbies. I want to explore new ones this year, and there is no better time than during a break! Here, I can test out options and learn the basics so that by the time I am back into the swing of coursework, I have a fun and stress-relieving outlet that I feel confident in. I worked on painting last year which was fun, but now I want to learn more about sewing! My friend is going to teach me so that when I head to DePaul’s MakerSpace (Idea Realization Lab or IRL), I can use their machines with ease. For people staying on campus, the IRL labs also have workshops to learn how to sew, do woodwork, and use the embroidery machines, so the opportunity to find a new hobby is still there for you!
Overall, I am stoked for this Spring Break where I can finally relax, get everything beyond coursework in my life finished up, reconnect with friends, and find new passions. Wherever you are heading this Spring Break, have fun, don’t have FOMO, and enjoy yourself! Cheers!
~Breanne