One of the most enjoyable things of college life can be taking a break after a long semester. I have to say that as much as I love studying engineering it tends to wear me down and there's nothing I need more than taking a break sometimes. I decided to get away from the cold weather to spend my break relaxing by the beach. The past two weeks I've spent my winter break sleeping late, playing guitar, starring blankly into the horizon, and, of course, collecting information for SMB College Life. I've been taking this well deserved time off from my college studies to catch up on the things that I miss out on throughout the semester.
I don't have much time throughout the semester to do anything other than homework and studying so I've been spending my winter break doing the things I normally don't have time for. I've realized something today while blankly starring at the horizon today and wanted to share my thoughts. Today it hit me that I'm always "on the go" so to speak throughout my college life and am forced to think ALL the time. Not many people outside of engineering really understand how much time and effort we have to put into or education. As an engineering student I'm always working on something; whether it be homework, projects, or studying for exams. I rarely find the time to stop and let my brain relax; with the exception of my occasional 5 minute bus ride across campus. Even then I spend that 5 minutes planning for the rest of my day, or week, and trying to fit everything in.
I normally give up things like playing guitar, drawing, reading about business.....basically all my hobbies when the semester rolls around because I just don't have the time to fit them in. That leaves little to cut out of my schedule when the work begins to pile on. Eating is the first thing to get cut from my college life in order to make more time for my workload. The next thing to go, unfortunately, is sleep. This past fall semester I found myself spending at least one night a week without sleep due to the various projects, homework and studying that I needed to do for all my classes. Some Friday's I found myself so worn out that I'd end up crashing after my last class and sleeping through Saturday morning. So how did I make it through the semester? Caffeine....A LOT of Caffeine!
I think I've made Starbucks rich this past semester with my multiple daily trips to get coffee to keep my brain functioning. At this point I'm thinking they should sponsor me to walk around campus in my normal sleepless haze, carrying their branded cups. They should honestly consider making me an offer before I switch to the new Dunkin' Donuts that just opened up down the street from them. They have a lot better coffee anyway!
The whole point of me ranting on about last semester is that I cherish this break from my college life. We should all take this time to not only recoop from our very hectic college lives, we should also catch up on the things that we miss out on thorough the semester. You know my grandfather laughed at me the other day saying that I've been sleeping half of my days away, and THAT IS EXACTLY what I intended to do after the many sleepless nights throughout the semester.
I also used a lot of this break to let my mind rest. Like I said before I never stop thinking, solving or planning throughout the semester; I never have time to let my brain rest. Because of that I've been using this time to rest my brain by doing a lot of nothing. Granted, I have spent a few days in the bookstore reading a ton of information and gathering even more resources to provide to you through SMB College Life, but to me, that's relaxing. It's also very rewarding as I feel that the information I provide will help parents and student to not only plan and prepare for college, but also to save money on various products you may need through SMB College Life partnerships. If I can help one person then my efforts have been a success, and I am very satisfied.
I hope that everyone is enjoying, or has enjoyed their winter break and I encourage all who are still on break to make sure you spend it the way you want. Do the things that make you happy, the things that define you, and the things that you may have to give up in only a few more days to survive another college semester.
