What I’ve been doing during winter break

Content

Every time winter break comes around, I never know what to do: there’s just so much free time on my hands! I’ve seen people take classes or travel across the world, and while I should’ve been drawing inspiration from them, I didn’t plan ahead and it all just fizzled out.

And that got me thinking, how do I use all this time? With how busy a semester can get, there are a lot of things I end up axing from my schedule (apologies to my messed-up sleep schedule). Wouldn’t this be the perfect time to catch up on all that I missed?

So that’s what I’ve been doing — making up for lost time! From trying to sleep eight hours a night to picking up forgotten activities, here’s what I’ve been doing this break.

Reading

There’s always so much change in my life, but reading has always been the one constant. From young adult to non-fiction, and cookbooks to memoirs, I am a HUGE bookworm and absolutely love reading. It’s just seeing the world from another perspective, or being drawn into a completely new world itself. 

With how hectic my semesters have been getting lately, I usually don’t read as much as I used to, so I thought this break would be the perfect way to finish the books on my list! 

I’ve read quite a few books so far (full list will be written after this), but some of my honorable mentions are The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller, The Girl Who Fell Beneath the Sea by Axie Oh, and A Burning by Megha Majumdar. 

In no particular order, here’s the full list! I recommend reading all of them; some of them don’t have the strongest plot but the imagery and seamless writing compensates for it, and vice versa for a few of the others.

My Reading List!

• The Color Purple by Alice Walker 

• Memoirs of a Geisha by Arthur Golden 

• The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller

• Circe by Madeline Miller

• Mistress by Anita Nair 

• A Burning by Megha Majumdar

• The Girl Who Fell Beneath the Sea by Axie Oh 

• A Reliable Wife by Robert Goolrick 

• A Magic Steeped in Poison by Judy I. Lin 

• Purple Hibiscus by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie  

Walking around Boston

I’m still a little new to Boston, so everytime I come here, I try to go out and explore as much as I can! I’ve gone to Seaport, Downtown Crossing, Boston Public Library, Boylston Street, and a lot more! 

My favorite out of all the places I’ve seen so far is definitely the Boston Public Library; the interiors are so breathtaking and all the art is so pretty to look at. 

I’m a big photos person (disposable + polaroids) so I love going to all these places and getting more photos I can put up in my room!

Boston Public Library Courtyard

Seaport

Copley Square

Writing 

As you might’ve seen in my previous blogs, I love writing! And while I got to write a good amount for the Honors College last semester, I couldn’t work on writing pieces for other media outlets (the Daily Collegian, Planet Home, etc.) so I’m a little out of touch. 

I’ve been using this break to brainstorm pitches for these writing roles! I write for News & Arts at the Daily Collegian, so thinking about what topics haven’t been covered before, and how I can best write about them, is usually how I go about this process. 

Planet Home is a sustainability company, so I look for recent news or new technologies about environmental solutions and break them down into simpler terms more easily digestible for readers. 

These are just a few of the things I've been doing during break. In addition to all of these, I’ve also been sleeping a lot, binging a bunch of TV shows (Desperate Housewives anyone?) and trying out my disposable camera (check my photo below of my sister's place in Boston)!