If you are like me, you love a good long break from school. No classes, no homework, your own shower, spending time with your family, seeing your hometown friends, and getting some really amazing home-cooked meals. I love to be home — but not when every single one of your friends leaves two weeks before. I realized how boring being home was very quickly when your siblings are in school all day, your parents are at work, and all your friends are back at school. I needed some things to keep me occupied — you can say I was going a little stir-crazy. So, here’s what I did to keep myself occupied during the long break.
Here’s one thing about me, a guilty pleasure some might say — I love reality TV. However, because I love reality TV so much, I have watched almost every episode of all of the reality TV shows, and watching reruns of The Kardashians just wasn’t cutting it anymore. So, I stumbled across what might be my new favorite reality tv show — Below Deck (if you are asking me, I think Below Deck Mediterranean is the best version, but they’re all very good). It’s a reality show about the lives of crew members who work on a boat that charters very, very wealthy customers and spend six weeks out on the sea in close quarters — Below Deck watchers know the crew members as “yachties”. It is a constant state of chaos, drama, romance, fights, and just about everything you would see on the best reality TV shows. I highly recommend giving it a watch.
When I wasn’t binge-watching Below Deck, I tried to learn how to cook some simple meals. I won’t lie — some of them were not the best. But over time, I got a little bit better. Some of my favorite meals I made were: ‘Marry Me’ chicken, a chicken hibachi meal, steak tips, and the famous Emily Mariko salmon bowl. I have never really cooked more than things like mac and cheese, so this was definitely a learning curve for me — but I honestly found it to be really fun and it will definitely help me when I move off campus next year.
Lastly, I did a lot of reading. I love to read, but during the school year, I do so much reading that at the end of the day when all my coursework is done, the absolute last thing I want to do is read. So whenever I am home for break, I read as much as I can. My top three books that I read over beak that I would highly recommend were: Good Girl, Bad Girl, Then She Was Gone, and The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo. These were all amazing books that hooked me from the first chapter — I often had a pretty hard time putting them down, which got to be a problem at some point or another (we have all been there).
All in all, this winter break was long (too long in my opinion) but I tried my best to make the most of it, and I really loved having some time to read, watch, and try new things. So if you are bored next break, try to cook, read my book recommendations, or binge-watch Below Deck — it will definitely make the time go faster.
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