What Am I Doing This Summer?

28 May 2020

I’m a rising sophomore. Our college semester is on hold, so I’m technically still a freshman. Our institution had instructed the entire student body to vacate the hostels in the middle of March. It’s been a quarantined summer vacation ever since.

Initially, I rejoiced the reprieve from the hectic college schedule at such short time notice. However, even if I do miss college once in a while, being at home this long has affected me for good. It has enabled me to try new activities which I previously wouldn’t have the time or mental bandwidth to attempt under my busy schedule.

Freshman summer, the summer of exploration.

One thing which I’ve come to do is writing. Writing here, writing for myself and about anything. Not only would it help me to refer back in future but it also helps me to articulate my thoughts well in the present. Reading goes hand in hand with writing. I read a lot on these holidays. Books, articles and papers; academic or non-academic. Some days I just binge on them. I do that often with other activities as well. I have had days when I was excessively absorbed with reading, completing online courses or just lazing around with Netflix. I also sometimes spend my time cooking or doing origami.

I was involved in various extra-currics back in college. Several clubs and societies shifted to activities online. The idea is to keep improving and have fun. I was involved in sports and music, so I by default work out and do vocal exercises. Various other clubs organise open-to-all sessions. I join occasionally, but I’m not particularly much interested. I also help manage an educational social initiative particularly for lockdown period which is handled by me and few of my friends.

I’m trying to learn. An idea which panned out well for me was the planning of summer beforehand so I wasn’t required to make decisions of what to do immediately. I’d already talked to a couple of professors at my college while being in campus to work on projects under them with my partner. Other than learning what’s required to do them, I read and work on anything that interests me. I read a few academic papers for the first time this summer and that has certainly been a nice new experience.

Recently, I developed more interest in music due to my involvement in my college’s music club as a vocalist. I’m beginning to learn music theory and learning to play violin. I always wanted to learn to play a violin.

I also have my motivation down several times. To do anything. I then end up doing nothing for a continuous string of days. Having a good and intelligent friends circle helps immensely. Not only on this front, but good talks and discussions go a long way as well.

I’d conclude that being content during this time is highly mood and phase dependent. The aim is to be more than just sane and reflect on self for good.

Quoting strange planet, “I don’t know how to use my life.”