During the academic year, college students are preoccupied with coursework and
extra-curricular activities. To get a few free hours with nothing to do is a
luxury that only comes around once in a while and is seized with both hands
when it does. Perennial boredom is not much of a problem.
But when the year comes to a close,
students find their calendars suddenly freed up, with several empty days on
their hands. Post the stressful final exam period, this freedom is
exhilarating, and, as the students point out, they revel in not having to do
anything. But after a while, as they experienced throughout their childhood
school days, boredom inevitably sets in.
While as little kids, their time was
probably spent being carted off to summer camps by their parents, or rollicking
about for hours on the playground with cousins and friends … now, as
college-going adolescents, things are rather different. “Our parents tend to
leave us to our own devices now, and of course, there are no more summer camps
for us to pass the time at – we’re almost 20 years old! It’s really up to us to
figure out how to keep boredom away during the long summer break,” says Marc
Viegas, aged 19. It is thus up to the students themselves to decide what to do
with their time, with many getting creative and pro-active about it.
Some choose the old-fashioned way of stay-at-home,
do-it-yourself hobby development. Those hobbies, left on the back-burner
throughout the year, are brought to the fore and focused on during summer. For
Frederica Coelho, 21, this means reading and focusing on her art. “I’m
currently very into the Throne of Glass series by Sarah J Maas and that’s what’s
keeping me occupied during my summer holidays. What’s more, these books inspire
me artistically and I’m working on sketches based on scenes in the book as
well,” she adds. Anjali Mascarenhas, 21, an avid reader, is using her summer
vacation to catch up her on long reading-list, often left neglected during the
academic year, creating a sort of summer “bucket list” of books. “I’ve got a
lot of books on that list and I’m determined to get through them all! So far
I’ve managed quite a few good ones like ‘The Lowland’ by Jhumpa Lahiri, ‘The
Sense of an Ending’ by Julian Barnes, and so on,” she adds, excitedly.
With the number of workshops and classes in various fields that
are being conducted around the state, there is no dearth of options for
college-students-on-break, looking to pick up new skills, from writing to art
to yoga. “I’m very interested in art, but because of my pretty packed college
schedule, I don’t get much opportunity to explore it. But during the summer, I
like signing up for these art workshops that keep popping up. Not only do I get
the chance to get out of my house and meet new people, I also get to pick up a
few skills, and better yet, create pieces that I can take home! So far, I’ve
attended workshops on mandala art and pottery, and I think I’ll look out for a
jewellery-making workshop next,” says 21-year-old Ashima Puri.
For some ambitious students who are looking to gain work
experience before their college days are done or to fulfil course requirements,
part of the vacation months are spent interning. “I thought I’d spend my free
time building up my CV with work experience. My teacher made a few suggestions
with regard to the kind of internship I could take up, such as
newspaper-writing. I was offered a full-time internship by a children’s
library, and that’s what I am now doing,” says Manjita Joshi, aged 20.
“My college demands that I complete 30 hours interning at a
media institution in order to fulfil the requirements for my degree, therefore
I took up an internship at a local newspaper,” adds Annalise Coelho, 22. “At
first, having come off a very hectic year at college, I was rather reluctant to
spend a month working in an office, especially while many of my friends have
more free time. However, I am rather glad that I was compelled to do it – it’s
given me so much exposure and experience, and I really feel I’ve accomplished
something, as opposed to doing nothing all summer. Also, I’m pretty sure I’d
have been bored, sitting at home doing nothing!” she admits.
And finally, for many students, summer vacations mean just one
thing – travel! Whether that’s exploring home ground in Goa, or taking off on
trips, many students choose to spend their free time getting in a dose of
nature and culture, and making memories enough to leave them refreshed in time
for the new academic year. “My family is in the habit of making weekend trips
within Goa, when everyone is free to explore parts of the state that we don’t
get to see on a regular basis. Some of my favourite trips have been to Cabo de
Rama down south and Fort Tiracol up north, where we got in touch with our own
history in a more personal way,” says Marc.
Naithik Bidari, 21, says, “I love to travel, so I’ve taken the
opportunity of these free weeks to do it as much as I can. I’ve gone on trips
to Gokarna and Hampi in Karnataka, and before summers end, I think I’ll try
going further afield – Shimla is my ultimate travel-goal!”
“There’s no way to stay bored during the vacation when most of
my time is spent planning a trip, going on a trip, or recovering from a trip!”
he adds with a laugh.
For
these students, boredom is not an option. Summer hours are not hours wasted,
but hours gainfully used – to obtain skills, experience or memories. In the
end, each student aims to look back at summer 2018 as a pretty productive
inter-academic-year period.
