Walking into my parents’ house on Dec. 19 felt like an immediate weight lifted. Assignments, finals, new friends and everything in between that takes a toll on students’ physical and mental well-being was finally at rest. For some, going home is an easy trip away, perfect for long weekends or when you just need a break, but for many, this isn’t the case. Traveling back to the West Coast to see family and old friends is a six-hour flight on a good day — that is, a day without holiday delays or layovers. For this reason, I believe that Fordham should extend winter break by a week or provide additional days off during the fall semester to make up for it.
Other schools in New York provide longer breaks that end just after Martin Luther King Jr. Day. Both Columbia University and New York University resumed classes on Jan. 20 and ended their classes on Dec. 19 This extended break offers students the opportunity to relax and unwind from the semester — and recharge their social batteries for the semester to come. The balance between school and downtime can be difficult to manage when living on-campus or sharing an apartment with peers since you have fewer occasions for complete alone-time. Processing all the new experiences that each semester brings takes a toll on mental health, and it is important to give ourselves the space to just be bored and reflect.
Boredom is a rare experience in college since friends are always calling and there is always a new update to be found on Blackboard. Winter break gives students the chance to unplug and benefit from boredom. A Harvard study found that people rarely choose to feel bored or sit with their thoughts for long periods of time because it is uncomfortable. But boredom forces us to reflect and, for many of us, that process is unpleasant. Arthur C. Brooks wrote an article on this topic and explained it as, “when you think about nothing while your mind wanders and thinks about, for example, big questions of meaning in your life. What does my life mean?” As college students, these kinds of questions feel daunting and are cause for plenty of anxiety, but avoiding them altogether weakens the neural network and makes it even harder for us to sit with our own thoughts. Winter break is the perfect time for students to strengthen this neural network because we aren’t forced to follow an academic schedule. We can let our minds wander without the background noise of school. A three-week winter break is too short because students have to fit in so many events with friends and family from home that we are missing out on truly relaxing and giving our brains a break. We are simply hopping from one busy schedule to the next. An extended break would allow students to fill their time more thoughtfully instead of cramming visits into three short weeks.
Although Fordham does have many shorter breaks during fall and spring semesters, it is surprising that we aren’t given an entire week off for Thanksgiving. Looking back at the semester, the most hectic time was the weeks between Thanksgiving and winter break — not only because of finals, which of course cause plenty of stress, but also because of a lack of downtime for students before being pushed into the hectic prepping for finals. Without a substantial break before December, students may feel even more burnt out and needing a longer break. During the spring we are lucky enough to have two breaks that provide a balance for our busy schedules.
The fall semester is extremely busy as students are thrown back into academics, clubs and other extracurriculars after summer break. Longer breaks would be beneficial for students’ mental health and overall well-being by giving us adequate time to feel fulfilled by family and reflect on our lives. Students need the time to decompress during the school year and with a longer winter break we would have a better opportunity to balance seeing hometown friends and having a clear headspace to start spring semester on a positive note.
Uma Petzke, FCRH ‘29, is a psychology major from San Francisco, CA.
