Taking On Summer; What's Next?

If you’re anything like me the winter semester feels like a punishment. The weather gets colder and more miserable, the days seem longer, and there aren’t a lot of holidays off from school. Summer vacation is a heaven to look forward to; being able to relax and literally do nothing sounds like a treat. Then once it arrives, about 48 hours later you’re not sure what to do with yourself anymore. So what should we use these summer months for?

Many people take the time to find a full time job and earn money so that they are able to continue their college education, others do internships to learn more about their potential jobs, but even these items tend to not be quite as time consuming and all extensive as a semester of college is, which means that we’ve still got some time left over.

Why not take that time to learn something new! Think about something you’ve always wanted to learn but never had the time or the chance to do it; it could be learning to play the guitar, learning to quilt, to play football, anything! Now you have the time and some energy to possibly take on the task.

I have always been interested in learning a second language, but in high school I discovered that neither Spanish nor French came easily to me and I began to lose interest. Lately I’ve been thinking about how cool it would be to be able to speak using no words at all; instead, using your hands and facial expressions, which is why I have chosen to learn ASL (American Sign Language) this summer. I found a free online course and have already completed the first two lessons.

Lesson learned? Learning can be fun again! I know that sometimes school can begin to feel like a drag and we forget that learning is supposed to be an enjoyable thing. Taking the time outside of class and learning something that is interesting to you gives you the mental drive to actually focus on it and appreciate the learning experience.

So go have some fun this summer and learn something new; then come back here and share it with everyone else so that we all have some good ideas of what new things there are to be done.