Things To Do If You Take A Term Off From College

There are many reasons why someone might take a term off from Carleton. If someone does a study abroad program over the Summer, Carleton will ask you to take a term off in the school year. Another reason is mental health. College is hard, and it is totally normal to need a term of break in order to properly recharge so you can focus on your education without compromising your mental health. I did a summer study abroad, so I was asked to go home for the winter term, but it could not have come at a better time for a mental health term. One of the worries about being off school at an atypical time is that there isn’t anything to do. I will admit to having some sense of missing out, but thanks to the things I did, I came back reinvigorated while also making the most of my extra ten weeks.

Make A Retirement Plan

Okay, okay, I kid. But over my time home I did get an internship at UNC working in their School of Information and Library Sciences with their communications department. I interviewed students, alumni, and faculty, writing articles about the people and programs that make SILS click. I have never taken a journalism class, so this was a very new style of writing for me to get used to. It was challenging at the beginning, but as I got adjusted, It quickly became something I loved doing every day.

I got to talk to a lot of cool people as well, and it was an honor getting to share their stories with whatever audience I had. Ever since, I have done some serious research on jobs where I could continue to do journalism, and continue this new passion that could turn into a career for me.

Start Walking!

One of the nice things about being home for winter in North Carolina was that it was not too cold to go hiking in local National Parks, but they were all off-season, so it was easy to find places to stay for low prices. I had not seriously dedicated the time to hike while at Carleton, and I decided that my term off was the perfect chance to begin a new passion. So I took my work away from home and spent a few days in Boone hiking in Smokey Mountain National Park and driving the Blue Ridge Parkway nearly every night.

I went up by myself, but I made some friends on my way, so I wasn’t alone. I met a couple about halfway through my hike up Grandfather Mountain, both experienced hikers, and we ended up walking the rest of the trail together, chatting about our lives and heading off-trail a little to explore some caves carved out by ancient rivers. I wrote a short story for my creative writing class about that trip, and often find myself daydreaming about being back there again.

Do That Thing You Used to Love

I don’t hide that I’m a massive sports fan. For those wondering, go all Philly sports and it’s always a great day to be a Tar Heel. Despite that, I hadn’t gone to a non-Carleton live sports game in years, I just never seemed to have the time. But on a term off, I had no more excuses.

I went to three UNC basketball games over the winter and had an incredible time remembering what it was like to be a part of an environment like that. In the last game I went to, UNC vs Miami, the person sitting next to me was also a huge fan, so we freaked out together when UNC won by three after our best player dropped forty points on the Hurricanes. I also got back into watching football, both as a fan and to learn about the nuts and bolts, the games behind the game, the ones played by coaches, coordinators, and the like. I watched every primetime game with my Dad, something I might never get the chance to do again, teaching him about the game along the way. In the world of college responsibilities, we sometimes lose our inner child, and over the Winter I feel I got him back again.

While these were experiences that I had over a term off, these are obviously applicable to any normal summer break from school as well. There are ways to make plenty of use of your time off that don’t involve doing a full-time paid job or taking summer classes. While in school our time off belongs to us, and hopefully this helps others discover what they might want to do with that time.

Will’s (he/him/his) favorite thing about Carleton is the amount of open space the campus has, as it is a good reprieve from stress. He has seen the movie The Princess Bride at least 20 times, and can recite large portions of it! Outside of the classroom, Will is a member of CHOP, one of Carleton’s D3 ultimate frisbee teams, is one of the Student Department Assistants of the Education Studies Department, and is an active member of Board Game Club.