How I’ll be spending the easter holidays

Incredibly, this is my first university easter holiday that hasn’t been spent in lockdown. Because of that, I’ve never really thought about how I’m going to spend it before. So, now that I have planned it, I thought it would be useful to share it in case you’re in a similar position.

Take a break

I sometimes find it difficult to let myself switch off from work. However, I also know from experience that burnout is very real, and so I decided to take a few days to have a proper break. It mainly involved baking, making plans with friends, and watching TV – and it was lovely.

I do feel much better for it – it’s been a hectic term and I didn’t take many days off during it, so I really needed a bit of time to recover. I think it’ll have benefits for me and my work – I’m much more energised now, meaning that I’ll be more motivated to do my work, and that it’ll be of a better quality.

So if, like me, you haven’t given yourself much of a break recently, I would really encourage you to do it over the easter holidays.

Even though I will be doing uni work regularly from now on, I’m still going to be much more flexible with my time than I would be during term – I’ve already got plans to stay with a friend for a few days, spend the Easter weekend with my family, and go on a couple of day trips.

Complete my dissertation and work on assignments

I know I’ve just spoken about the importance of having time off, but, as a final-year student, I do also have a lot of work to do over the holidays this year. I’m aiming to complete my dissertation and do at least one (but preferably both) of my essays, which are due soon after the start of Term 3. I must admit, it feels like a lot to do in a fairly short space of time, but I know that it’ll be fine.

I’m planning to work from the morning until mid-afternoon, and then have the late afternoon and evening off. I’m pretty sure that it’ll be enough for me to get everything done, as I would usually spend a lot of time doing weekly readings and attending seminars, which I don’t have over the holidays. But if it’s not, I’ll just extend the time I’m working for an hour or so more each day.

Do some revision

This year, only one of the modules that I study has an exam. The History exam timetable has already been released, which is great because it has helped me to organise my work over the holidays.

My exam isn’t until a few weeks after term starts, so I’ll have a bit of time between my deadlines and the exam to do some revision. However, I’d like to get started on it over the holidays if I can so that future me is a little bit less stressed.

That said, thanks to the timing of it falling so nicely for me, if my dissertation and assignments take longer than I’m expecting them to, I have some flexibility to have a shorter, more intense period of revision once Term 3 starts.