As I am slowly trudging through 3 weeks of exam prep and exams while simultaneously counting down the days until I am home for Christmas break, I keep asking myself why I decided to do an entire school year here. Was it my love of French culture and food? Was it my desire to go places I haven’t been before? Or was it my incessant need to overachieve at everything I do and, even if I’m not enjoying it, I never give up? It’s not that I’m not enjoying my time in Rennes, I think I just need a break. So, I think it’s a combination of all three. That last question, though, is one I’ve been exploring a lot of while I’ve been in France because I don’t quit. I’ve always finished a book, always done the extra credit, always proved to my peers that I’m not a quitter. That’s not who I was raised to be.
So, because I’ve been having some struggles and stress, that’s no excuse as to why I should do anything differently, act differently, work differently. I’m too prideful, too determined to consider taking any kind of real break. Even when I’m away for a weekend, I work. I can’t help it.
In order to not run myself into the ground during this period of my life at study abroad, I have compiled a list of brain breaks that still feel productive:
- Go for a run.
- Go to a café and read for a minimum of one hour.
- Pretend you’re a billionaire and plan your life in your study abroad country*
- Have dinner at the dining hall with friends at least once a week.
- Join a pilates class.
- Talk to your friends and family
There’s a simplicity to distraction that seems to give me temporary relief. And once that’s over, I go back to being a regular stressed out university student who’s an overachieving, hyper-independent perseverer**.
* Me, personally, I live in a chateau in the French countryside with my friends
** This isn’t a word, but I don’t know an antonym for “quitter” that works well.
DU Abroad 