As the semester comes to a close at the University of Minnesota, students once again leave their studies temporarily behind for winter break in pursuit of alternative plans.
University students said they plan to use the break to take it easy, travel, work and pursue their hobbies.
Fall semester ended on Dec. 19 and classes will resume on Jan. 21.
First-year student Raghav Sharma said he is excited to not worry about academics and focus on his passions over break.
One such passion is travel, he said. Sharma and his family are traveling to Arizona over the break.
“We’re just gonna be traveling around with our friends sightseeing, typical touristy stuff,” Sharma said.
Second-year student Charley Rathgeber said she has lots of travel plans for the break.
Rathgeber will start the break by visiting family in Canada for Christmas before returning to her home in North Dakota for a bit. She then plans to go back to Minneapolis for a day and then is off for a 12-day study abroad excursion to Germany.
The program focuses on sustainability and renewable energy, Rathgeber said. She will have the opportunity to attend conferences and meet with some of Germany’s renewable energy and political leaders while collaborating with other students interested in environmental studies.
Rathgerber said that the trip was pretty spontaneous. She first learned of the opportunity when someone from the program came to her German class and said she decided to go very late, even forgetting to tell her parents until she was already signed up.
“We had to agree within a week, I believe,” said Rathgeber. “I kind of forgot to tell my family about it until after I had accepted it and was in it.”
Sharma also said he plans to work over break, performing as a DJ in his hometown of Duluth at weddings and trivia nights. Sharma will use the break to work on his original music under his stage name Arrkay.
“I make R&B music, and right now I’m in the production and writing phase for my project,” Sharma said. “A lot of working with producers and writing for my album/mixtape.”
First-year student Alex Sanchez said that he is also going to be working on his musical endeavors over the break, as well as modeling.
Sanchez also said he was planning to work quite a bit over the break but generally was just going to “go with the flow” and see where the month off takes him.
