Beat boredom this summer
By DONNA HOLMAN, T&D Staff Writer Saturday, June 09, 2007School’s finally out! Hooray!
Wait a minute – you think. I don’t have transportation. No more chats on the bus on the way to school. No more lunch time socialization. No more cram sessions with pizza and soda. No high speed Internet access. Text messaging’s getting too expensive.
Now what?
After one week of freedom from the rigors of classroom instruction, the excitement of no more exams is likely wearing off, and you may be feeling like you have too much idle time. Television? Come on. More than two days of repetitive commercials and reality shows with the same old themes probably has you thinking – there’s got to be something more.
Well, there are lots of constructive ways you can spend your two months of vacation time, and some of them can even help you to build a better resume and enhance your future.
The researchers at CollegeBoard.com suggest using your break to seek out a summer job or internship to get a jump start on experience for a future occupation or expand your horizons by doing something different like becoming a camp counselor or an assistant at a state park.
Along the same lines, volunteering at a local summer school program or public organization like the Red Cross may garner you a wealth of experience and appreciation, and it looks good on your resume.
If you’re not keen on finding something away from home, you may want to consider diving into a book on the required reading list for the next school term, or find an amazing story that will take you to places you’ve only imagined. Read through the local paper every day to keep up with current events.
If you haven’t discovered the joys of reading yet, you could write your own story. Grab your favorite pen and notebook, or open a word processing program and start typing. You’re the author, so you get to choose the style, the characters, the plot and the setting. Don’t worry about grammar. Just express your ideas. Make it a diary of your life or go completely fictional. It could be a lot of fun and you never know, it might just get published one day.
Release your creative genius! Start a scrapbook of significant events in your life, create a pictorial journal of your past or your desired future. Cut out magazine photos that represent your ideas and paste them in your book. If you are into visual arts and designing, get yourself a drawing tablet and some paints, pencils or chalks. Find your creative niche and let your imagination flow.
Not really the artistic type? Maybe you could try your talents at making your own board game. Decide your theme. Choose and construct game pieces and cards. Who knows? This may be the start of a new toy craze.
If you have your parents’ permission to cook when they are away, surprise your family with a meal or a special dish. Food Web sites like www.kraft.com have innumerable searchable recipes that can give you lots of ideas for your meal, from appetizers to main courses to desserts.
If cooking alone is not your idea of exciting, plan a cooking day with an older sibling or a parent. It’s fun to whip up delicious ideas together and could provide you the ideal backdrop to learn more about your parents and their childhood.
Ask your parents if you can plan a family trip. Decide together the distance you want to travel, the length of time you can devote to the vacation and the budget that will be allotted for the voyage. Use the Internet, visit the local library or call travel agencies to get lots of ideas. Determine the location, and plot the route if traveling by land, research flight availability and prices if flying is required and check out cruise destinations and options if water is preferred. Make sure you stay within your budget, look for the best deals and remember to check requirements, especially when considering out-of-country trips.
There are loads more activities you can do – become an exercise buff, film a documentary, plant a flower garden. The possibilities are endless, with a little imagination.
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