Back from Break

Seven days into the New Year, students returned to classes for the last six weeks of Winter Quarter. Most students departed on December 21, 2007 and the following days. The goal of this two-week getaway was that of rest, relaxation, and general enjoyment. In the search of this, many students had many different ideas of what a break should consist of, varying from the simple ideas of video games and sleep to foreign expeditions.

Tim Potmesil, a freshman chemical engineering major, spent his break in a way common to quite a few. According to Tim, his break was nothing out of the ordinary. He spent time and got together with friends from high school, played video games, and generally relaxed by sleeping and procrastinating on homework. One of the highlights of his break was “doing both [sleeping and procrastinating on homework] at the same time.”

Another partaker of the mid-quarter freedom was Mike Fuson, sophomore electrical engineering major. Mike’s winter break was wide and varied in composition. His itinerary included going to see a few NHL hockey games for his home team, the Predators; enjoyable time with the family; some busy days of shopping, and catching up on his sleep, averaging about ten hours a day of sleep. Mike sentiment’s about break seemed to hint at a rather busy and enjoyable break that left him “surprised about how much [he] did.”

Freshman chemical engineering student, Nathan Elder’s, break was more than exciting with his visit to Pasadena, California for the 92nd annual Rose Bowl. Nathan said that he had an incredible time with his friends and family that went. He was overwhelmed by the number of things to do in relation to the event. He also was overjoyed to see his favorite college football team supported so well, “…someone would yell I-L-L and we would respond with I-N-I. The streets were filled with orange, it was really cool.” He also got a chance to see the Tournament of Roses Parade in person which he felt were “amazing.” Even with Illinois’s loss, he cited his joy with an anecdote of his friends, family, and him running into some USC fans who ridiculed Illinois’s loss but as he said “we didn’t really care.”

Rest and relaxation was key to a third break with Beau Inskeep, junior biomedical engineer. Beau enjoyed his break by simply enjoying the company of family and friends. He found time to hang out with old friends from high school, while also spending the Christmas holiday with family. Movies also assisted in Beau’s relaxation period, watching a few DVD’s as the chance came. But, according to Beau though, his break was “nothing exciting.”

Foreign travel also proved to be part of the plans for some of Rose’s students with sophomore mechanical engineer Peter Richards being a keen example of this. Peter traveled to Wales over break to attend and celebrate his cousin’s wedding. Spending a good chunk of his week-long trip sightseeing, Peter said that he “had a lot of fun seeing everything.” On this trip, he was also able to partake in the age-old British holiday of Boxing Day, in which he and his family went to watch a rugby game.