COVID safe ways to spend winter break

I am guilty of over planning, even when I’m planning time that is supposed to be spent relaxing. Admittedly, I don’t like going into a holiday break without an idea of how I’m going to fill my free time. When you are stuck in your house because of the pandemic, the weeks of free time can seem even more daunting if you aren’t able to have your friends over, or go to an in-person event. If you need some guidance about how to spend your time once you’ve submitted your last final, here are a few ideas.

Finish up holiday shopping

If you are celebrating a holiday over break and haven’t bought your loved ones a gift yet, take the first free day you have to get that done. If you are able to support local places when buying gifts, that’s even better. For those still in Iowa City over break, I love shopping at White Rabbit for myself and others. They sell plenty of gift-able things, like candles, stickers, jewelry, socks, cards, and masks. Artifacts is another great downtown business, and they recently expanded their store, so they have more vintage items to check out. You can support local bookstore Prairie Lights when buying a present for the bookworm on your shopping list.

Set up Zoom sessions with friends

You may have developed an aversion to Zoom after hours of discussion sections, but the video application can be a great way to virtually gather your friends. Among Us and Codenames are both free virtual games I like to play with friends over Zoom. We’ve organized several Zoom birthday parties, where a couple of us will put together a Kahoot with fun facts about the birthday person and we all take it together. We’re doing a Secret Santa party over Zoom, where we drop off the presents at each others’ house and open them on the call. I’ve also seen people on TikTok hold presentation nights where attendants share slide shows on any random topic of their choosing.

Get crafty 

Now is a good time to sit down with a tutorial and become an amateur at something that’s always interested you. Since March, I’ve started some very basic crochet and embroidery projects. If you are taking a hiatus from all learning over break but still want to feel artsy, keep it simple with some markers and a coloring book.

More cozy activities

If you aren’t feeling creative, sudoku, word puzzles and actual puzzles are ways to fill your time and take a break from screens.

I know towards the start of the pandemic a lot of people started baking bread, so these weeks off might be a good time to try out a recipe. Making food usually stresses me out, but I have found a scone recipe that hasn’t let me down or overwhelmed me, and the final product is definitely worth the effort.

Rummage through your parents’ things

If you are stuck in your childhood home, take the opportunity to swipe some vintage clothes that your parent isn’t using anymore. I know in the last few months I’ve incorporated a lot of my mom’s hand-me-downs into my wardrobe. I’ve also been listening to my dad’s records. See if your parents will let you go through their closet or storage bin; you might find something useful.

Speaking of clothes…

Now is a good time to go through your own closet and get rid of anything you’ve outgrown—physically or mentally.

Start planning 2021

Personally, I will be on painkillers after oral surgery on Dec. 31, and likely fall asleep before it’s time to ring in the New Year, which I think is a perfect end to 2020. However, the days leading up to 2021 would be a good time to make resolutions. I also keep a bullet journal where I organize my to-do lists, keep track of my daily mood and list my favorite songs of the month. I like having a personal, physical planner. I just bought a new journal for 2021, and the New Year could be the perfect time to start bullet journaling, if that interests you.

Read? 

This one always is on my to-do list over breaks when I have the time to read whatever I want, but often gets pushed to the side. It’s worth a try though, and I’ll try to finish at least one of the books on my Goodreads list. I think the trick to motivating yourself to read for pleasure is to pick out a book that you will be entertained by, not one that you are forcing yourself to read.

But seriously…

You’ll probably end up binge-watching. When the inevitable happens, here are my recommendations.

shows
  • “Russian Doll” (Netflix)
  • “Fleabag” (Amazon Prime)
  • “Crazy Ex-Girlfriend” (Netflix)
  • “Big Mouth” (Netflix)
  • “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel” (Amazon Prime)
Youtube Series
Netflix Comedy Specials
  • Everything John Mulaney related: “Sack Lunch Bunch,” “Oh Hello,” “New In Town,” and “The Comeback Kid”
  • Sarah Silverman’s “Speck of Dust” 
  • Jenny Slate’s “Stage Fright” 
  • Hasan Minhaj’s “Homecoming King”
disney original Comfort movies
  • “Read It and Weep”
  • “Let It Shine”
  • “Lemonade Mouth”

Binge listening

I’ve found listening to podcasts feels more productive than watching shows and movies, since you can multitask while listening and you might learn something new. For light-hearted entertainment, I can’t recommend the podcast “I Said No Gifts” enough. The host is incredibly funny and it’s been one of my favorite things to come out of 2020. I’ve also gotten into true crime podcasts. “My Favorite Murder” has a huge collection of shows to binge and even though the subject matter is dark, the hosts are very funny and their casual conversational tone makes the stories easier to listen to. For more serious true crime storytelling, I recommend “Serial” season one, “Crime Junkie,” and “Criminal.” I listen to a lot of NPR, including “It’s Been a Minute,” “Ask Me Another,” “Wait Wait Don’t Tell Me,” “Up First,” and “Code Switch.”

I hope you are able to safely enjoy winter break and enter the spring semester feeling reenergized.

Masks: necessary and fun

When my high school classes went online and I started hanging out with my friends outside and six feet apart, rather than in each others’ homes on the same couch, I was still adjusting to the reality of the pandemic. One aspect that I hadn’t really accepted yet was that masks were the new normal and we might be wearing them for months. I was never against masks, I just hadn’t been in public at all since the spread in the US started, so I wasn’t used to wearing them. The idea of wearing a mask whenever I left the house for an unknown amount of time bummed me out.

Since classes started at the University of Iowa, I’ve been around others, and thus wearing masks, more than ever. I always understood the need for masks to keep people safe from COVID-19, but recently I’ve started having a lot of fun wearing them. I stocked up on reusable masks from Target and Old Navy with simple patterns and colors on them so I have plenty of options and can even match them with my clothes that day. I also bought a few from Raygun with sayings on them, like, “read the room.” Masks have become another accessory to consider when I’m getting ready, and I feel confident wearing one knowing I’m protecting others and tying my outfit together.

Saving lives should be enough of a reason to do something as simple as covering your mouth and nose, but by having fun with your masks you can make the most out of depressing circumstances.

I recently embroidered the simple cloth mask the University of Iowa provided. I always want to yell at people I see not wearing their mask properly, so I decided to let my mask do that for me by stitching, “cover your nose” into the fabric. If anyone is looking for an easy craft or a way to have more fun with PPE, here is how I did it.

I am by no means an expert at embroidering, this is only the fourth item I’ve embroidered. This is a simple project for any skill level, I think it would be an easy first project for someone trying to embroider.

Supplies

  • cloth mask
  • embroidery thread
  • needle
  • pencil
  • scissors
  • iron or hair straightener

I thought I would use an embroidery hoop as well, but after trying it out I realized it would be easier to just hold the mask in my hand.

Directions

  1. Use the pencil to plan where you are going to embroider. I only embroidered on the top fold of my mask because that doesn’t cover my nose or mouth directly. I don’t think embroidering the mask is very risky because the holes you create are very small and are filled with the thread, but just in case the holes are big enough to let something out, the top fold it isn’t the crucial part covering your mouth and nose. For extra precaution you can attach an extra piece of cloth to the inside of your mask to make sure nothing is getting out. I also wouldn’t recommend embroidering in multiple folds of the mask because it could affect the way it stretches across your face.
  2. Stitch your design. Do whatever is appropriate for your skill level. I am very new to embroidery, so I did simple capital letters. If you look on TikTok or Pinterest you can find beginners stitches.
  3. Wash and dry your mask. I could still see my pencil marks after I embroidered my mask and washing it got rid of that. You should also wash any masks that weren’t packaged when you bought them before wearing them.
  4. Iron. Use an iron so the embroidery sits flat on the mask. If you don’t have an iron you can use a hair straighter.
  5. Wear it! Keep others safe and adhere to this step every day.