Almost there. The fall semester is at its homestretch, and the holiday season is upon us.

November is ending soon, which means we get a week off for fall break before tackling the last two weeks (and also finals) of the semester.

Unlike most students who either went home or traveled for a week, I was among the few who stayed on campus for Thanksgiving week, moping over the fact (or opinion really) that it wasn’t worth it to go all the way back to Seattle for a week just to come back for 3 more weeks before going back again. Instead, I spent the week trying to occupy myself to avoid boredom, which admittedly didn’t work out too great. Here’s an overview of what my fall break looked like:

Monday

I was tasked with an Instagram takeover for Monday to show off what I did for the day (over on @iowaadmissions on Instagram). Basically, I posted Instagram stories in a “day in my life” format, while also answering questions from incoming Hawkeyes. Aside from this, I went to the Fall Break Meal and had my first “Thanksgiving meal” ever (I didn’t even know what stuffing was before this). The food was decent for me, and it was nice not having to think about what to eat for lunch. After the meal, I tagged along with some of my friends to go to Coral Ridge Mall to hang out. We walked around, got boba (JaeTea’s strawberry matcha is really good) and some other food, and also tried on some clothes. When we came back to campus, we hung out at the dorms for a bit, where we played some Call of Duty (I mostly watched them play so I could catch up on Instagram questions). We ended the day by making a brief run to Target, and I signed off Instagram when I got back to my dorm.

Tuesday

A fire drill woke me up from my sleep at around 11:30 am, so I put on my puffy coat on top of my pajamas and walked out onto Dubuque Street while my eyes were still squinting my grogginess away. Apart from that, I have nothing else to write about Tuesday except for my 7-hour shift at the Power Cafe. The shift was mostly slow like my usual shift, except I closed for the first time that day, and with my amazing luck, there was a big crowd forming right as we were about to start closing. After that unexpected rush, my coworker (who doesn’t even work at the Power Cafe – Jackie, I appreciate you) and I powered through the closing process (pun intended) and made sure everything was as clean as possible with the minimal energy we had remaining.

Wednesday

I had a shift at the Coral Ridge Ice Rink on Wednesday, so I spent 3 hours handling rental skates (and answering the same two questions over and over again). After my shift, I went straight back to my dorm and just lounged around until I got hungry and made dinner, also catching up on some work and binging a drama series.

Thursday (Thanksgiving)

Honestly, there’s really nothing for me to write about for Thanksgiving Day. I’ve never been one to celebrate Thanksgiving, and neither does my family, so aside from calling home, all I did was enjoy being alone in my room (with a lack of good food, because what money do I have to spend on fancy food).

Friday

Friday started off with me sleeping in until noon for once. Sleeping in isn’t something I get to do very often anymore so I let myself stay in bed until I felt like getting up. Once I was awake, I realized that I needed to get some Christmas shopping done for a Secret Santa that I’m participating in, so I decided to make another trip to Coral Ridge Mall. And when I say the mall was packed with people, I am not joking. Every single chair in the food court was taken, and there were strollers wedged in every gap between tables. Unfortunately, my shopping wasn’t very successful, so I ended up just getting some pretty gift bags. I stayed a bit longer at the mall to eat some pizza, since I work at the rink and I was told there would be free pizza for anyone who came in (I wasn’t even scheduled to work that day; I just wanted free food).

 

So there you have it: my anticlimactic fall break broken down. Admittedly, it went both better and worse than I thought it would. I’m glad I had some friends who were also on campus during the break as well, but it sucked not being able to go home while everyone else was gone. It was nice having an empty dorm hallway though, so I am appreciative of that. Would I stay on campus for another break? Maybe. If I don’t have plans to travel during the week-long breaks, I most probably would be staying on campus (Seattle is just a bit too far away for a week to be worth it for me). But I am really looking forward to winter break when I can finally go back home.