Sometimes the weather makes it hard to believe, but university summer holidays are only a couple of months away. It’s easy to go home and spend a summer watching daytime TV, but have you considered that there might be more to your time off than Pointless and Homes under the Hammer? It’s hard to picture, we know, but there are a whole range of other ways you can make the most of your summer holidays.
1. Travel
You might be fortunate enough to be going on a family holiday, but if you aren’t, there’s still time to think about travelling this summer. Inter-railing is a great option: if you’re under 25, you can get a cheap ticket that lets you take trains through thirty different countries in Europe. With affordable, friendly hostels in all the major European cities, you can spend Monday shopping around the Montmartre and your Thursday amongst the third-century ruins in Thessaloniki. Get a few friends together, pack a bag, and go on an adventure. Just remember that you’re going to have to carry said bag for the next two weeks. You have to ask yourself, do you really need four pairs of shoes?
2. Work at a summer camp
If hopping from place to place isn’t your style, but you’d still rather be abroad for the summer, then working at a summer camp might be for you. Americamp and Camp America are always popular, but check out www.ccusa.co.uk for a whole list of available programmes in the USA, Canada, Russia and Croatia. Being a counsellor for the summer is hard work, but it’s also an opportunity to spend the holidays in a new place.
3. Volunteer
Giving something back to your community is a fantastic way to spend the summer, and there are so many ways you can do it. You could work at a charity shop; become a reader for isolated elderly people; save local wildlife as a conversation volunteer; or become a fundraiser for a charity of your choice. Whatever you choose to do, you can find volunteering opportunities at sites like www.do-it.org so that you can spend your summer making a difference.
4. Get a summer job
Student life can be expensive: you’ve got to feed yourself, clothe yourself, and on top of that, it seems like every second week, you’re being asked to buy textbooks. So why not spend your summer saving up spending money for next year? If you can get a waiting or bartending job, or if there’s a temporary office job going, then take advantage. You can build up some great skills and build your networks in the process.
5. Get an internship
Interning is a fantastic way of exploring your career opportunities: spend the summer gaining valuable work experience, making useful links, and finding out what your chosen career would really be like. At Enterprise, our interns say that their time with us was the best way to spend a summer, and many of them come back to us for great careers after university.
If you’re interested in spending your summer with Enterprise, check out our internships and see where a career could take you.