Spending your fall break at Smith can feel a little surreal. All your friends leave, any semblance of structure is torn from your day, and a thick, eerie October fog descends on the now silent, empty campus. If you’re not careful, your active imagination will convince you that you’ll become the first victim of the infamous 2018 Fall Break Murders. But keeping busy can stave off these kinds of paranoid thoughts. Here are five things to do over fall break.
Take Over Every Single Pokemon Go Gym on Campus
If you’re one of the few people who still opens the app only to feel sick of that Team Valor player who always knocks your Blissey out of the gym at Sabin-Reed, now’s your time to get the ultimate revenge. With fewer people on campus, there’s a lot less competition. Spend your fall break turning all the red and yellow gyms blue, and revel in your victory when everyone comes back.
Pick Up Extra Dining Shifts
Fewer people on campus and the fact that no one has to work their dining shifts during break means easy cash for you. Although dining workers are widely encouraged to work their shifts during break, most people just want an opportunity to rest. But if you still feel energetic this early in the semester, spend a few hours washing dishes now and earn some coffee money to spend during midterms.
Read That Book You’ve Been Meaning to Read
Maybe you bought a book late in August thinking to yourself, “Hmm, yeah, after spending all day in class and doing one hundred pages of reading a night, I’ll definitely have the mental energy to read that novel at the end of the day and won’t just collapse with Netflix in the background.” Maybe you were right. If you’re like me, however, that book’s been languishing under a bunch of novels you need for class since Sept. 6. Unearth that book, and finally do some reading that’s just for your pleasure.
Use Up Your Mountain Day Apples
Maybe you got a little too excited on Mountain Day and plucked more apples than you could eat, and now they’re growing a little soft in your room. You don’t need to throw them away. Take advantage of an empty kitchen and make yourself a delicious apple treat — it can be as simple as blending your apples with a little cinnamon and sugar to make applesauce or as elaborate as baking your apples in a dough you made yourself. Best part about this is that you can share it with your friends when you catch up after break.
Binge Watch a Show on Netflix
Finally, you can’t beat a classic. Binge-watching a show on Netflix when you’re avoiding work is an experience worlds away from being able to sink into a story when you have nothing to do. Get a snack, get into some comfy clothes and finally start that show you’ve been meaning to watch. If you need some recommendations, “The Good Place,” “Bojack Horseman” and “Terrace House” are all amazing and totally binge-worthy.
