Holidays are the time for relaxing. It is the time that most students decided to get away from assignments and homework. As an international student, you can choose either to go back home or to enjoy your time in Australia a little bit more.
No matter what you plan to do, remember that holidays are also the time when you should do things that you have postponed to do for ages. These activities will help you to catch up with what you have missed and prepare yourself better for the new semester.
Here is the list of 10 productive things that international students can do in their holidays
1. Book Flights
Isn’t this holiday is the best time of the year for you to make a plan for your next holiday? You might know that flights and hotels are cheaper if you manage to secure a deal way before your actual plan. In addition, during holidays, such as Christmas, airlines and travel agents release many attractive deals and discounts on flight tickets, etc.
That is the reason why you should spend a little bit time off your holidays to plan your next trip, whether it is for you to go home or to visit other cities in Australia. Make some bookings and reservations and you will surely save a lot of money.
2. Sort Our Your Enrolments
In some colleges and universities, students have only some compulsory subjects and are free to choose other subjects. If it is your case, then you need to choose and enroll in the subjects before the semester begins.
Thus, you should spend your holidays thinking about what subjects you should enroll. Are they what you like to learn? Are they suitable for what you want to do after you graduate?
When you know clearly about the subjects of your next term, take a look at the reading lists and the subjects guides to see what you need to buy or learn beforehand.
3. Buy your study supplies in advance
Besides finding out about what books are on your reading list and decide whether you should buy these books, you should also consider buying other study supplies in advance.
Think about all of the inventories that you would need for the next semester. It could be expensive stuff like computers or it could be cheap stuff like pens and pencils. Only buy what you really need. If you already have a lot of an inventory, you don’t need to buy any more of it.
4. Clean Your Space
Cleaning rooms are one of the things that people choose not to do when they are busy. They think that cleaning might be a waste of time. That is not true at all. Having a clean and organised working desk will increase your productivity. If you don’t have time for cleaning during the semester, holidays are the perfect time for it.
Go through all of your stuff and decide which one you should throw away, which one you should keep, as well as which one you should sell or give away. Spring clean your room as well. You might be surprised how a clean room might be beneficial for your mental and physical health.
Not only should you clean your room. Go on and clean your computer as well. Re-organise all of your folders. Go through your emails and delete ones which are unnecessary. And remember to unsubscribe from those junk emails.
5. Get Fit
When you are fit, you can cope better with any stress coming at you when the next semester begins. You now have more time during your holidays. So there is no more excuse.
You can choose a new sport to take part in. Or simply choose an indoor activity to keep you keep fit. Try to get yourself into the habit of exercising or playing sport every day. In your next semester, even though you are busy, your body is accustomed to keeping fit already.
6. Try to improve your English
If English is not your native language, even though your English is good, you can still make it better. You can choose to build up your vocabulary. Try to read more materials in English to improve your subject-specific vocabularies as well as your reading skills.
You can also go out to talk to native Aussies to improve your conversation skill and your listening skills while at the same time, enhancing your accents.
7. Update your CV
This small little action can benefit you a great deal. When your head is not caught up in coursework materials, it is time to brush up your CV by adding more skills and experiences that you have gained for the last semester. Don’t forget to update your online CVs including your Linkedln profile pages and your personal website.
8. Build your work experience
Holidays are also a great time of the year for you to build your work experience, especially when you didn’t gain any during your semester. You can choose to do volunteering work or a full-time job.
Other different things that you do during your holidays can also count as a valuable experience that you can add to your CV. Even joining a club can help you to gain essential skills.
9. Build a calendar for the next semester
A calendar is a great item to help you keep track of your plan and stick to your goals. Don’t just use a customised calendar. In fact, during a holiday, you can draw for yourself a calendar with the important event and deadlines as well as the class’s schedules that are going to happen in the next semester.
10. Relaxing
Finally, don’t forget to spend time relaxing. You are on your holidays after all. This is a great chance for you to relax your mind and get your head clear of those stresses and other unnecessary things.
Above are 10 productive things that you can do in the holidays. You can choose to do some of them or do them all. You will then see how much you have accomplished during your holidays without sacrificing your fun time.