I grew up on an island in the Caribbean yet chose to spend the greater portion of my academic life in a place that snows and has winters that last well into when I believe spring should begin. This semester, winter seems colder and more brutally depressing. I have none of my old friends who I could sit and reminisce with. There is no colossal amount of work to keep me trapped in the library, which is too far from my dorm and too crowded to be a viable and attractive possibility.
An older version of myself would probably turn to resentment, and sit here complaining about the dreary state without any forward motion to find a solution. Today I'm going to make a list of ten ideas of things you can do in the winter that don't involve drugs / alcohol and will help entertain you or keep you busy!
(1) Reorganize Your Room
This is what I'm doing today after my class. I'm sure for many other people it's much needed as well. This can be anything from rearranging your closet to finally throwing out exam week study guides from the Fall Semester. I always manage to find treasures when I'm cleaning out my room so think of it as an opportunity to jam to bad music and find things that have recently been obscured by piles of disorganized clothing.
(2) Write Something Great
I have yet to get to this; my blog is hardly something I consider great. One day I will find inspiration for something worthy of being called my Opus. Winter is a great time to force yourself to explore the musty corners of your mind for something good you can write and not be embarrassed to publish.
(3) Movies and TV Shows
I feel so lazy sometimes just sitting and watching as many television episodes as I can squeeze into a day, but sometimes there is really nothing better to do than to just sit and try to form a holy union with your bed or a couch.
(4) Have Friends Up
This will probably happen once for me all winter, but one of my closest friends is coming this weekend to visit! If you go somewhere as remote as Middlebury, it is often nice to have the company of an old friend who will understand your nostalgia and who you can have fun with without the social pressures of having to try to make new friends.
(5) Read
I have recently been relatively antsy to the point where I have had a lot of trouble focusing on reading. This is just the result of an emotional funk I'm working through and when I'm done I plan on devouring as many tomes as my slow moving brain will allow. I will probably post a winter term reading list to provide some suggestions either later on today or tomorrow (depending on how my day goes).
(6) Do Something Adventurous
I have recently discovered that something exists called geocaching, which sounds like something absolutely fabulous to do on some of the warmer days during the winter. Another idea is walking through the woods around your campus. This really only works for people with rural campuses, but my guess is, if your campus is urban or suburban you won't even be reading this.
(7) Listen to New Music
Trade CDs with friends or make playlists for each other and just spend some time hanging out, drinking coffee or hot chocolate and listening to amazing new music. This can only go on for so long though, so I suggest pairing this with some movies and tv shows afterwards.
(8) Board Games / Card Games
I don't know that many card games but a few good ones are spoons (sometimes called tongues?), gin rummy, BS, Kemps and Spades. If you are particularly ambitious you can learn to play poker and make small bets to keep things exciting.
(9) Arrange Skype Dates
It's a great way to catch up with distant friends and completely free which I enjoy. Group Skype costs extra though, so I've discovered the best way to have a group chat with your friends is Google+. It's really easy and there are some fun features like adding reindeer antlers to your face for example. Even if you don't really use Google+ the hangout feature is the best free group chat I have found that works easily on PCs and Macs.
(10) Catch Up on Politics
Romney has won Iowa and New Hampshire thus far in the primaries and November will be sooner than you think. This is probably a good time to read up on policy, register to vote and prepare yourself for the next elections which should prove to be nerve wracking or exciting depending on your view of the political arena.
An older version of myself would probably turn to resentment, and sit here complaining about the dreary state without any forward motion to find a solution. Today I'm going to make a list of ten ideas of things you can do in the winter that don't involve drugs / alcohol and will help entertain you or keep you busy!
(1) Reorganize Your Room
This is what I'm doing today after my class. I'm sure for many other people it's much needed as well. This can be anything from rearranging your closet to finally throwing out exam week study guides from the Fall Semester. I always manage to find treasures when I'm cleaning out my room so think of it as an opportunity to jam to bad music and find things that have recently been obscured by piles of disorganized clothing.
(2) Write Something Great
I have yet to get to this; my blog is hardly something I consider great. One day I will find inspiration for something worthy of being called my Opus. Winter is a great time to force yourself to explore the musty corners of your mind for something good you can write and not be embarrassed to publish.
(3) Movies and TV Shows
I feel so lazy sometimes just sitting and watching as many television episodes as I can squeeze into a day, but sometimes there is really nothing better to do than to just sit and try to form a holy union with your bed or a couch.
(4) Have Friends Up
This will probably happen once for me all winter, but one of my closest friends is coming this weekend to visit! If you go somewhere as remote as Middlebury, it is often nice to have the company of an old friend who will understand your nostalgia and who you can have fun with without the social pressures of having to try to make new friends.
(5) Read
I have recently been relatively antsy to the point where I have had a lot of trouble focusing on reading. This is just the result of an emotional funk I'm working through and when I'm done I plan on devouring as many tomes as my slow moving brain will allow. I will probably post a winter term reading list to provide some suggestions either later on today or tomorrow (depending on how my day goes).
(6) Do Something Adventurous
I have recently discovered that something exists called geocaching, which sounds like something absolutely fabulous to do on some of the warmer days during the winter. Another idea is walking through the woods around your campus. This really only works for people with rural campuses, but my guess is, if your campus is urban or suburban you won't even be reading this.
(7) Listen to New Music
Trade CDs with friends or make playlists for each other and just spend some time hanging out, drinking coffee or hot chocolate and listening to amazing new music. This can only go on for so long though, so I suggest pairing this with some movies and tv shows afterwards.
(8) Board Games / Card Games
I don't know that many card games but a few good ones are spoons (sometimes called tongues?), gin rummy, BS, Kemps and Spades. If you are particularly ambitious you can learn to play poker and make small bets to keep things exciting.
(9) Arrange Skype Dates
It's a great way to catch up with distant friends and completely free which I enjoy. Group Skype costs extra though, so I've discovered the best way to have a group chat with your friends is Google+. It's really easy and there are some fun features like adding reindeer antlers to your face for example. Even if you don't really use Google+ the hangout feature is the best free group chat I have found that works easily on PCs and Macs.
(10) Catch Up on Politics
Romney has won Iowa and New Hampshire thus far in the primaries and November will be sooner than you think. This is probably a good time to read up on policy, register to vote and prepare yourself for the next elections which should prove to be nerve wracking or exciting depending on your view of the political arena.
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