Five Things to Do If (When) You Get Bored over Winter Break

When you left high school and found out winter break at Harvard was 5+ weeks long, you were probably thrilled. Your whole life leading up to now you’ve been used to a solitary one week of break spanning exactly from Christmas Day to New Year’s Day, and thus couldn’t imagine the endless possibilities awaiting you during this glorious vacation time. But now you’re here. And sadly, Christmas is now over. You don’t even have getting drunk on New Year’s Eve to look forward to anymore. Most of your friends are probably going to head back to their schools in the next week or so. And you still have 3 long weeks of winter break left. You’re starting to get...dare I say it? BORED. If this is you, keep on reading because flyby has the solutions for you.

Redecorate Your Room

You’re a grown-up now and chances are your room decor might not reflect that. Take charge of your life and create the room you’ve always wanted for yourself. This is your opportunity to spend hours on Pinterest looking at great ways to transform your room, only to eventually abandon those plans for a much more minimal transformation following the reality check that a quick glance at your bank account gave you. This can be very time consuming and can be a great way to get to know yourself as a person, especially now that it’s #newyearnewme. Added bonus: this self reflection might even help you be all set to talk about yourself when you decide to get started filling out all those summer applications.

Note: Flyby is not liable for any angry reactions from parents if you take this too far.

Start a Craft

Finishing a project can bring you a sense of satisfaction you haven’t been able to experience through academics this past semester. Yes, it can be a feeling greater even than the joy that arises from successfully finishing all 8 seasons of a TV show on Netflix in a week. Plus, crafts can make great presents for friends or significant others. Or you know, just to hang in your dorm room if you’re lonely and single. (See Flyby Matchmaker for solution).

Plan for Spring or Summer Break

This option has at least two benefits. One, you’ll have the peace of mind of knowing what you’re doing with your life in the coming months and won’t have to scramble to find a job or internship with the guy your dad went to highschool with and talked to twice in his life. And two, in true Harvard fashion, you can start the, “Well I’m doing [insert opportunity that will literally never matter after you apply to graduate school] this summer.”

Use Dean Khurana as inspiration By Emma V.R. Noyes, Hunter J. Stanley, and Alana M Steinberg

Learn How to Cook

While no one can deny that HUDS food is great, we all sometimes crave food that doesn’t just have a cold slice of cheese on top of it. And if you don’t want to break the bank and visit a Harvard Square business, you can now use your newly honed skills to prepare a non-microwaved meal. Along with being a great survival technique, cooking is also really fun. Once you get a little more experienced, you can start experimenting with stuff. Plus, you can play your favorite music and invite a friend to cook with you!

Workout

You no longer have any excuse to not workout. The “I have to (pretend to) write a paper” and “I should really catch up on sleep” excuses are a thing of 2015. It’s 2016 now, and you have almost a month to keep your New Year’s resolutions that you will undoubtedly forget as soon as you get back to school. So make one of them to be in better shape. After all, you’re going to need stamina and strength to run from class to class in the tundra that awaits us. Winter is coming kids. Even if it might not seem like it...