Emory’s much anticipated Fall Break is finally approaching. For many of us, the idea of going home is a necessity; for others, maybe not so much. But whether you’re heading home, going to visit your friends at a different school, or just staying here at Emory, there are a variety of stages you may (read: will probably) go through over the course of the few days off.
Stage 1: The Initial Ecstatic Phase
At Home: It’s the day before break and you could not be more excited. All you can think about is catching your flight, seeing your dog, and devouring that long awaited first meal while back—be it at home, or at your favorite restaurant nearby.
Visiting friends: If you’re headed to visit friends instead, you’re anxiously awaiting the huge greeting to welcome you as soon as you arrive at your friend’s school. You haven’t thought about schoolwork once—you’re just ready to get away and finally catch a break from the past few weeks of stressful midterms.
At Emory: If you’re staying on campus, you’re so ready to get a good night sleep the first night; with the dorms a little emptier, you finally have some peace and quiet for a few days. This is also usually when you make plans to be overly productive.
2. The Overload Phase
Now that you’ve made it to your destination of choice, or remained here at Emory, I’m sure you’re feeling a bit overwhelmed. While you think you are now free of all obligations during the school week at Emory, here’s the truth: your life for the next few days is about to be super busy.
At home: As soon as you step into your house, your phone is exploding with texts from your home friends asking to make plans. Talk about a major social swap—it’s back to that home friend life. But you also want to go shopping to get new fall clothes, and of course your mom has already told you she’s made three appointments for you and planned two family dinners. So, you might ask yourself, is there actually time to do anything you want to do?
Visiting friends: Your friends will probably try introducing you to literally every friend or acquaintance of theirs that you may (or may not) have heard of and probably seen all over your Facebook newsfeed for the past month. Then, they’ll want you to go out the night you get there, because obviously their favorite frat is having a party and you just have to go and see what their schools nightlife is like. The next day, they’ll want to take you to their favorite restaurants, give you a campus tour, go to a football game, and also go shopping. So much for relaxation…
At Emory: You’ve probably tried to use all outlets possible to do something fun and adventurous. Maybe you make plans to go to the World of Coke, walk the Belt Line, and check out a new restaurant in midtown. You might also decide you to try out the Clairmont pool—I mean, if Emory is actually the “country club” people say it is, why not utilize it?
3. The “Leave Me Alone” Phase
At home: At this point you’ve seen all your friends, gone to the dentist, and eaten out for the past three meals. You already got your nails done and saw your grandparents. All you really will want to do is chill. I mean, what’s wrong with some Netflix? Trust me, you’ll need some time to just sit in your room and catch up on all of the episodes that you missed the past two months at school. Also, all this running around has made you really tired; you want to catch up on sleep, especially on all the lost sleep from those long nights out at school.
Visiting friends or at Emory: Regardless of whether you’re at Emory or another school, you’re probably realizing the same thing. At this point, you definitely want some time to yourself and could use a good night’s sleep. You miss your bed at home and all you want to do is watch a movie—you can’t deal with this constant busy schedule of activity after activity. Also, if you’re here at Emory, you’re definitely getting sick of spending the whole day attempting to find new ways to entertain yourself.
4. The “Oh Wait, I Have Work?” Phase
Wherever you may be for fall break, at some point you will realize that you have readings due the day classes start up again and a project due that Friday that you haven’t even begun to look at yet. It’s time to hit the books for a little bit whether you want to or not; you can’t start sinking in school now. It’s only the beginning! Get some coffee, play some good music and plan to give yourself some rewards for being productive—it should help you get through some of those assignments.
5. The “I’m Ready To Go Back” Phase
It’s been a few days and you actually miss Emory. You didn’t realize that you would miss your friends this much: you miss having someone to talk to at 1 AM, having everyone with you at meals, and also having someone to go with you to the gym. If you’re home, you’re tired of your mom nagging you to clean up your room and your home friends are starting to get a little annoying. If you’re at Emory, you are getting lonely at this point and you’re tired of hanging out with the few stragglers like yourself that decided to stay in the ATL for break.
With all of this being said, Fall Break is definitely something to look forward to. Now that you’re aware of the phases you may go through, hopefully you can prepare to have the best time off possible. After all, it is break!