Spring Break

Posted March 5, 2015 by Hayley Botnen

I can’t believe it’s spring break next week. And I’m sure I’m not alone in being surprised at how suddenly the semester has flown by. A major part of that is due to the frequent cancellation of classes at the beginning of the semester. I don’t have any Monday classes, so I never had to worry about that, but my Tuesday class didn’t meet a couple of times. And even now, six weeks into the semester, it feels weird to go to class on both Tuesday and Thursday (which is my normal schedule).

It’s been even weirder for me because I still compare every day to Montana. I lived in Montana my whole life, and while it’s a big enough state that each part of Montana is very different from another, it still feels like a place where one can speak for the state as a whole. Montana gets plenty of snow (as I think I’ve said before), but they rarely get snow storm after snow storm after snow storm. And as far as I know, we don’t name ours.

By this time in Montana, most of the snow would have melted. We’d have the occasional flurry to bring back an inch or two, but it would be largely nice outside, and the prickly brown grass would be peeking through. Here, I’m trying to figure out where my friends who are staying with us for a little bit while they find a place (they moved from Montana too!!) are going to park their car. Parking bans might not be in effect, but the snow mounds pretty effectively rule out parking anywhere near my house.

In all my attention to the life parts of my life, I feel like I’ve put school on a separate burner. When I need to do my reading, I do it. When I need to pick up 39 books from the library, I go do it. But this semester seems to be different from my last semester. I don’t have to read any novels, so I’ve been enjoying reading those for pleasure. At the same time, because I don’t have to read any novels for school, I detach from my “school” thought pattern more.

I don’t know if that’s a good or bad thing, but it’s something I’ve been thinking a lot about lately. I didn’t have to worry about balance so much last semester, but this semester has been a lot of using a planner and trying to be more involved in my school-self. How do you balance the multiple facets of your life? Does it get easier or harder with season changes? Let me know in the comments!

All the best–Hayley