It was the beginning of December 2024, and everything was in full swing. I had finals to study for, applications for club executive board positions and internships, extra shifts at work, and managing relationships around me. It all seemed to be building up and building up, but suddenly, it stopped. On Dec. 13, the moment I handed in my last final was a sense of relief, yet also of confusion. What now? After all, winter break in college is nothing like high school. In high school, we’d get a week, maybe two, and a decent amount of work to complete. Here, there’s no work. No class. And 5 weeks of ambiguously filling up my time.
Of course, you may be thinking that summer is the same thing, even longer. However, two main differences make it a challenge: I can’t work due to the length of the vacation, and there is definitely no summer weather. Never in my life had I experienced mixed emotions like I did then. I was so happy to see my family after being three hours away for a long time, but I would miss my new friends and the new life I had started in Storrs. Five whole weeks felt like a dauntingly long time, but it turned out to be better than I had imagined.
The break benefits
It wasn’t all confusing to figure out. Fortunately, my birthday fell right at the beginning of the break, and I was able to celebrate at home with family and friends. Then came Christmas and New Year’s, which felt warmer and brighter after being away from home for longer than I was used to. Even between my birthday and the holidays, I took a few days to hang out with family and friends. These included fun little mini trips like seeing the Bryant Park Winter Village (as well as trying out the Aritzia giant puffer jacket) or taking trips to the mall and movies. But eventually, the holidays ended, and I had seen everyone I wanted to see. That left me with three weeks of nothing scheduled and no obligations whatsoever. Of course, while I was balancing four finals, sweeping at the dining hall, and looking somewhat presentable everywhere I went, this sounded like a blessing in disguise. However, I sat down on my bed on Jan. 1 dazed and confused.
Bored in the house and in the house bored
The first few days of freedom weren’t as awful as I thought. I slept in, watched some movies, and indulged in a healthy amount of self-care (maybe too much self-care). I attempted to develop a routine, as I spent most of my days alone waiting for my family to return from work and school. It often consisted of waking up around 11 AM, making a quick brunch and either proceeding to watch Gilmore Girls for the 7th time or attempting to watch a new show without getting bored. Eventually, I realized I couldn’t spend the next few weeks doing just this, so I made up a list of things I could potentially do. For instance, I tried to walk around my neighborhood when possible, whether that be eating lunch out at my local pizzeria or stopping by the grocery store to grab a few items. This unfortunately backfired when my area was facing severe winds and I no longer had the desire to step outside. One thing that I did that I was most proud of was completing applications for internships, pre-professional programs, and more things like that. It allowed me to fine-tune my cover letter skills and generally stay productive. If I hadn’t, I might’ve been wildly unprepared to enter this new semester. Similarly, over break, I was selected to serve on the Executive Board of ALPFA (yay!). This meant that I could count on a weekly assignment towards the end of the fifth-week period. On the more negative side, the cold prevented me from consistently working out, or being outdoors in general. The only difference between then and now is that I have to go outside to live life. Nonetheless, I was able to persist in the last week of break and spend some time with friends before saying goodbye.
lessons learned
When the time came to start my journey back to Storrs, I was very reflective of my time off. Surprisingly, I was comfortable at home for a long time before I was ready to come back to real life. As my break and TikTok were facing their final days together, I was grateful and sad at the same time. It allowed me to learn how to live alone because even though I do that on campus, it’s different being all by yourself and having time to learn and grow. Plus, online shopping can be done at any time so I’m not at a total loss. Overall, the experience was both everything and nothing like I expected, and I feel ready to tackle it again for the next few years of my college experience.
