With so many holidays springing up there are a lot of interesting things you can do to keep yourself busy and make the best of your free time. Here are some cool and easy ways to spend time and feel great about it.

Discover a new place

No matter the size of the town in which you live, there is bound to be an interesting place that you have not yet discovered. This could be a small, quaint coffee shop, vintage store, record store, or restaurant. It may not even be a shop of any kind. You are not limited to the type of place you discover. Walk around or drive (if you have a vehicle) and look for a place that will inspire you, and hang out at whatever place that may be.

Have a movie marathon

This is the perfect way to get local friends together and socialise. Think of a theme or specific genre, such as comedy, and go with friends to rent several movies fitting into the category. During the movie marathon, make tons of popcorn and, after each movie, spend time talking about what each of you liked or did not like about it. This is a fun way to socialise with friends who you may not have time for while at school.

A no destination walk

Set aside enough time, maybe a couple of hours if you feel up to it, and venture outside. Walk wherever your first instinct tells you to go, and see where you end up. This is the perfect time to do deep thinking or even to walk off any problems you may be having. It can be somewhat stress relieving, plus, you have the added benefit of getting exercise and fresh air.

Read on

A way to avoid boredom and the feeling of laziness is to dive into a thought-provoking read. If you have nothing worth picking up at your house, you can always go to the library. Read, something you will have to think about, something that makes you question. You can even read the book with a friend, and have a discussion about the ideas of the book.

Try something new

Have you always wanted to do something, although never had the time or talent to do it? While at home, you have time to do whatever it is you have been wanting to try. This may be drawing, sewing, cooking, learning the basics of a new language, etc. With so much spare time, you can try your hand at sewing with the help of someone who has the ability, and the same goes for any other activity. All you may need for your desired activity would be books as your resources.

Party

Not that you’d procrastinate or anything, but now that you are done staying up until four in the morning writing papers and studying, why not party for a good reason. Come on, you know you want to paint the town red, grab a paintbrush!

Something useful

Now that you have all that partying out of your system, do something to make your family proud. Do something you can put on your resume to impress prospective employers or grad school admissions committees. Consider getting a short internship at a friend or family member’s place of business. Apply for some scholarships. Do some community service. You get the idea.

Shopping spree

Spend the money that you received during the festivals and spend it on cool stuff while you can. Do not wait until the end of the holidays to spend the money. You will feel guilty and buy your books instead of that CD, bag...

Spend time with family, pals

Being at home, you have plenty of time to hang out with your family members. Play games, talk, catch a movie and dinner. Holidays are ideal o make time for family, because you are not dealing with school. While you’re at it, why not look up those high school friends you haven’t seen since, well dates aren’t important, just make up for lost time.

Sleep

If you have fantastic time management skills, this might surprise you, but catching up on sleep is in fact the number one thing students want to do during their time off. — Emma Carbone and Becky Meyer