After overloading on finals stress, all any collegiette™ wants is a relaxing break. But now that you have absolutely no schoolwork to do for a solid month, what do you do?! With so much spare time, treat yourself to these luxuries that you’ve been missing out on since the craziness of Work Forest finals rush began!
Sleep!
You have a month to spend at home with your family—they won’t mind if you spend the first few days or so lost in the blissful world of slumber. Catch up on all the sleep you lost pulling those all-nighters during finals week—you deserve it!
Enjoy some home-cooked food.
Once you’ve awoken from your week-long nap, enjoy some of your favorite home-cooked meals. Revel in the fact that the Pit is no longer a necessity, nor is it even an option for the next month. Request your favorites from Mom, or make them yourself! Just being in the kitchen and knowing you made the food yourself can be such a rewarding feeling after eating Benson or Pit to-go for weeks!
Watch your favorite movies.
Curl up on the couch and watch your all-time favorite Christmas movie with your family. And while you’re at it, have a whole movie marathon and watch those favorite movies you’ve been dying to re-watch. Make a cup of hot chocolate, and take a day to completely relax on the couch sans stress!
Bake holiday cookies.
Show off your creative side by decorating some fun cookies for the holidays. Experiment with new recipes, perfect old ones and have fun with it! Remember to make an extra batch of your favorites—you can then freeze them and bring them back to school in January!
[pagebreak]
Give yourself a mani-pedi.
Let’s be honest: when was the last time you treated yourself to a good mani-pedi or even gave yourself one? Take this free time to do it! Grab your best girlfriends and head to the nail salon to really relax, or put on some great holiday music (Christmas Pandora, perhaps?) and do it yourself at home. Pick out some festive colors (and glitter, anyone?) to really get in the holiday spirit!
Finish up (or start!) your holiday shopping.
If you’re like me, none of your holiday shopping is done yet. With all of the work we have, you’re superwoman if you have all of your gifts figured out already! Hit the mall for those last few presents you need and indulge in something cute for yourself while you’re there. Plus, who can pass up the mall when it’s all decked out with holiday décor and festive music? It’s fun to watch mall-goes act crazy over Christmas shopping.
Spend quality time with friends and family.
Break is the perfect time to catch up with those people you either haven’t seen since August or didn’t get nearly enough time with over Thanksgiving break. Share great stories from school with friends from home, impress your family with your phenomenal final grades over holiday dinner and enjoy the happiest time of year with everyone. Pick fun things to do with your friends – go bowling, ice skating, to the movies, etc.— so that you don’t get bored sitting around chatting for a month. Let your family pamper you with great food and company because there really is no place like home!
Now that finals are over, you can finally do the things you’ve been dying to do for the entire semester. Rest up, have fun and get yourself ready for the spring semester! Travel safely collegiettes™ and happy holidays!
*Photography by Serena D’Agostino