How was your winter break? What did you do over the holidays? Did you feel the break was long or short?
Jewel Murray (sophomore, physical therapy): I spent my holidays in sunny south Florida and I had a lot of fun, but was able to get a lot of rest. I went to the beach, spent quality time with my family and friends, and was able to further my relationship with God through personal Bible study and journaling. I was also able to hang out with my best friends Sara and Rashel, and my grandma who I haven't seen in over six months. I felt that my break was long enough to make lots of new memories with the people I love, I still definitely enjoyed my time at home.
Kelli Coffen (sophomore, education): I spent the break with my family and was actually able to help in my mom’s kindergarten classroom a little bit which was so fun! My break was pretty lowkey, but I was able to binge watch some shows, like “Queen’s Gambit” and “Bridgerton”, and do some reading for fun which I don’t usually do during the semester. I also tried to keep up with friends through virtual game nights, many FaceTimes calls, or finding ways to meet up safely. The break definitely began to feel long towards the end, but I was glad for the time to decompress after the crazy semester we had. I know it was just such a relief when Thanksgiving came, but it was kind of a weird feeling to have to go back to classes afterwards, but overall, the break felt long to me, but in a good way!
Joshua Pak (junior, biochemistry and management): Over the holidays I was able to connect a lot to my family by spending a lot of time with them. However, we did not really see my dad that often, since he is in the Pfizer team working on the vaccines. He was really busy working almost 80 hours a week. I was also able to get together with friends, of course in a safe environment. I went on a lot of hikes and snowboarded a couple of times. But other than that, I was catching up on rest and sleep during the winter break, which was really good. I felt that the break was too short, because the break is never long enough, and we still had many assignments right after the break ended.
Huichan Hwang (junior, religion): Holidays are very important to me to take some rest. However, since I took a year off, I was afraid of taking classes again this semester. So, I decided to study even if it was Christmas. While spending good time with my family at home back in Korea, I filled my stomach with good Korean foods and studied for the classes that I was going to take this semester. My friends back in Korea also wanted to spend time with me while I was in Korea, so we went on a short one-day trip to Busan. It was a memorable holiday before restarting the semester.
Maria Magray (junior, physical therapy): I spent my holidays at home mostly with my family which was really nice. We made and ate way too many Christmas cookies. I enjoyed my winter break and I also got to see some friends a couple of times to go sledding and ice skating. It felt like I was home for a long time, but it also seemed short once it was time to come back to school. It was super great to have such a long break, and I’m really thankful for all the memories I made.
Andrew Remmers (junior, finance and accounting): I spent this past winter break enjoying time with my family and friends back in Maryland. The longer break was definitely needed after a stressful semester filled with school, work, and concern about the Coronavirus. My family would normally visit extended family over break and celebrate Christmas and Thanksgiving with them. However, because of increased precautions, my family and I limited travel. This gave me a lot of time to rest, connect with old friends, ski, do some yard work, watch football, and of course play lots of card games. Though this past break was significantly longer than normal, I honestly felt like it was the perfect amount of time. I needed the extra time to recharge and be ready for the next semester of school. I also began an internship which cut my break a little bit shorter. From talking to some of my peers, this break came at a wonderful time to rejuvenate us for this coming longer semester.
Autumn Bange (senior, secondary mathematics education): I went home for winter break and spent time with my immediate family. With COVID there was not a whole lot to do outside of the house so we just chilled for most of the time. I felt like the break was pretty short, especially coming off of the really long Fall semester, but I am glad we were able to have some time off.
The Student Movement is the official student newspaper of Andrews University. Opinions expressed in the Student Movement are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the editors, Andrews University or the Seventh-day Adventist church.