Summer vacation is the time of year when you are free from school and have all the time in the world to do whatever you want. You don’t even have to worry about signing up for the class that’s already filled up because you don’t go to class anymore. It is easy to end up wasting your summer break however, or even worse, overheating and over-tasking yourself at home. If you want to make sure your summer break exceeds all your expectations, read on to find out how to pack as much fun as possible into fewer days.

How do you use summer vacation? Are you stuck in the office, keeping your team updated with your latest happenings, and making sure that everyone is on top of their jobs? Or is your work area a barren wasteland sitting in an unused corner of the building? I know that if I’m not doing my full daily job duties, then I’m probably bored out of my mind. I don’t want to spend my time like this because it’s not challenging enough. If you’re feeling stuck in your job or need a change of pace, here are 4 ways to use summer vacation this year.

How To Use Summer Vacation

While I love the summer, I love the idea of “summer vacation” even more. The concept of no alarms, sleeping in, and boozy brunches is an absolutely dream-worthy scenario — but, alas, school teachers don’t get that luxury of sleeping until 11:58 am (it’s more like six-ish). While I’m happy to be working at a job I adore and believe it will forever inspire me (as well as my kids), that doesn’t mean I don’t think about turning off my alarm clock come June 1. That’s why I’ve compiled for you the best tips for how to use summer vacation this year. Let’s pretend it’s May 15 and we’re plane hopping our way to some fun destinations around the world:

7 Interesting Things to do During Summer Vacations

So, it’s summer vacation. That can be both a boon and a bane. It is a boon because you no longer have to stay up all night, burning the midnight oil. Also, you no longer have to write those endless, boring papers. But it is also a bane because you are not sure what to do with all your extra time. Well, fret no more, as I have the perfect solution for you!

Here are 7 things you can do during your summer vacations:

1. Restyle Your Room:

 Your room is probably the place where you spend most of your time, so why not make an effort and personalize it? You don’t really need to spend a bomb to do this. Here are a few pointers:

• Make a Powerpoint presentation of pictures of all your favourite books, movies, TV shows and bands. Take printouts of these and paste them like a collage on your wall.  
• You could also make a huge collage of old photographs and relive bitter-sweet memories every time you look at it.
• In fact, you don’t have to have great artistic abilities to revamp your room. If you can’t paint or draw, just buy stickers and wall decals to cover your cupboards and walls.
• Or you could just reorganize your room – arrange all the books by category and store all stationery neatly, in separate boxes.

Move around the furniture or try your hand at mirror painting – the point is, think of yourself as an artist and treat your room as your canvas.

2. Volunteer at an NGO:

The benefits of doing volunteer work in your free time are many-fold. Not only are you helping a needy person but you also learn valuable life skills like how to work in a team and how to take direction. Also, volunteering at an NGO doesn’t necessarily mean teaching kids how to read. You can find an NGO that deals with a cause close to your heart – it could be sports, dance, music, animal welfare – anything! NGOs like Parikrama and Child Rights Trust in Bangalore, are more than happy to offer you the opportunity to volunteer.

3. Form a Hobby Club With Your Relatives and Friends:

Summer vacation is the perfect time to catch up on reading and watching movies. Why don’t you form a reading club with your friends? You could all assign books to yourselves and pick a fixed time of the week, to discuss what happened in each of your books. If you find 5 friends to do this, it is like reading 5 books at the same time!

4. Start a Blog:

Blogging is not only therapeutic but is also a great way to create a network! And you can blog about anything – from maintaining a sort of journal of your thoughts to uploading quirky, unconventional pictures that you have clicked. To do a good job, spend some time researching about existing blogs on the topic and make sure you have a clear vision of how you want your blog to be. And of course, when you share your posts, lots of time goes in keeping track of those Facebook likes and shares.

5. Take up a Summer Job:

It is a great time for a person who has good people skills and a fair knowledge of English and the local language to take up summer jobs. This is because of the severe dearth of employability of the resource pool. So approach a barista near your place or a work as a local tourist guide. Sign up for these online sites, like timesjobs.com, that are recruiting for summer jobs. I’m sure you don’t need help coming up with ways on how to spend all the extra cash!

6. Learn a New Skill:

What have you always wanted to do? Well, what’s stopping you? Do it right now, during your summer break! You don’t need to join courses with hefty fees to acquire this knowledge – you could just rely on Youtube videos and other free, online courses and forums. Maybe by the time of your next summer break, you can pass on your knowledge and even start teaching these skills! Here are a few skills you could develop:

• Play an instrument
• Learn a foreign language
• Learn how to salsa
• Learn how to bake
• Learn about psychology

7. Family Time:

As you grow older, you start spending less and less time with your family. What is ironic is that, it is only as you grow older that you realize the importance of family life – by family we mean not just your parents and siblings, but your grandparents too! You might have to move away for studies or a job, so take some time out and plan a lunch with your mum, a game of TT with your dad or a picnic with your grandparents.