Once finals are over, the only thing we want to do once we get home is nap and binge watch Orange is the New Black with our pets. Take advantage of the first two weeks of break to simply hang out with friends and family, grab some last minute gifts and fill your belly with your favorite holiday treats.
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Get your fill of holiday activities. Check out your neighborhood’s lights, go ice skating and visit your local city for some holiday shows. Nothing gets you in the holiday mood like singing some carols with your friends or oohing and ahhing at the Macy’s Christmas Light Spectacular.
Spend quality family time. Sure, you see your parents pretty frequently throughout the school year but it’s always nice to catch up with those family members that you don’t always get around to visiting. Make family movie night a thing and call up some of your cousins to do a white elephant party or just get together for a couple drinks to catch up on each other’s lives. It’s a great way to make the holidays feel more like family time.
Bake! We spend too much time on Pinterest throughout the year finding the yummiest desserts but we never have the time or money to bake them. Use your time off to go grocery shopping with your mom, pick out some ingredients and get baking! Your family will be super impressed with your skills and you can make sure your favorite holiday treats get made this year.
Get out early in the morning for Christmas shopping. There’s just something about shopping malls during this time of year that fill us with holiday magic but after standing in line for 35 minutes, you won’t feel so magical. So get up early a couple days to beat the crowds and get in and out of those stores before the mad rush begins! Then you can spend your time on other holiday activities.
Once the holidays are over, we still have three weeks until we go back to Bloom, which can lead us all to the dreaded “is break over yet?” syndrome. Fill some of your time with some of these productive activities that will have you saving time, money and aggravation during the semester.
Update your resume. Ugh, we know. But having a great resume can make the difference between getting forgotten and getting an interview.  Take a few hours to look it over, update your positions and skills and make sure it’s ready to go in PDF form so you don’t have to freak out during the semester when your dream internship is accepting applications.
Shop the sales to get good deals on professional wear. We know dress pants aren’t as exciting as new booties but post-Christmas sales are the best time to invest in some of the pieces you’ll need for a job or internship you might have once May rolls around. Trust us, scoring an interview is great but the panic that sets in once you realize you don’t have a blazer is not fun.
Job/internship search! And speaking of interviews, do some research over break to find out who’s hiring or what internship programs you’re interested in. Then send out some resumes and let people know you’re looking for a position once the semester’s over. You’ll get your foot in the door before everyone else and you’ll be less stressed during the spring if you already have something lined up.
Volunteer. Charity work looks great on a resume and it doesn’t have to be as time-consuming as you think. Find out if any local organizations need help with their monthly newsletter or if someone could use an extra set of hands planning their annual fundraiser. Use the skills you’ve learned in school to market yourself to organizations who may need help and then it becomes added work experience to bring up in an interview.
Ease up on the naps. Don’t get us wrong, naps are just about the greatest thing ever and you’ll take plenty of them during your time off. But once mid-January hits, try to ease up on the mid-morning, mid-afternoon and post-dinner naps. You’ll have an easier time adjusting back to college life and you’ll be amazed at what you can get done when you’re awake for more than 8 hours a day.
Shop the best prices on your textbooks. Textbooks could really put a huge dent in the savings you accrued from your Christmas celebrations so shop around on Amazon, Chegg and other sites to find the best deals on your textbooks. It may seem dorky to buy books before the semester even begins but when you’re saving a ton of cash, who cares?
We hope these suggestions can help you avoid moaning “can I go back to Bloom yet?” and hopefully make your life a little easier once break is over. But for now, enjoy it!