Well, another term is finally over and done with. It’s time to head back home for an entire month of relaxing, hanging out with family and friends and, come late April, stuffing your face with egg-shaped chocolates.

Whilst you no doubt deserve some time off from your studies, it’s wise to not spend the entire Easter break lounging around in pyjamas snacking on creme eggs. With a whole month ahead of you, you should try to plan in some productive activities to help prepare you for going back to Uni for that all-important final term. So, here are just a few things you could do this Easter holidays to ensure you stay productive:

Power Through that Dissertation

For third-years, most of you will have an upcoming dissertation deadline looming. You may have felt smug towards those poor students with a term two deadline, but now they’ve handed theirs in and can sit back and relax and watch as you struggle to get it completed in time.

Now is the time to really power through and get that dissertation finished. You won’t have many weeks into third term to finish it, and that time should be spent doing final read throughs and bothering your friends to proof read it for you. The Easter holidays is the best time to finish writing it if you haven’t already. Make sure you pack enough resources to take home with you and spend some time every week tying it all together so it’s done ahead of the deadline.

Look for Internships

The summer holidays might seem a long way off, but third term will whizz by and you’ll be left wondering what to do with all that free time. A great way to spend the summer, and the perfect way to set you up for life after graduation, is to get an internship in a field that you’re interested in.

You can search for and apply for internships online with many companies from all across the country. They will be competitive, so make sure you start early and really work hard on those applications to be in with a chance. If you can’t find an internship that sounds like it suits you, consider contacting companies directly and asking if they’d be willing to offer you some work experience over the summer. It’s always worth asking, the worst they can do is say no. Remember, if you don’t ask you don’t get.

Catch up with Friends

This might not seem like an obvious ‘productive’ activity, but it’s important to catch up with your friends when you’re back home. As you carry on with your studies, you may find it harder and harder to make time for your friends back home whilst you’re juggling your work and keeping up with the new friends you made at University. However, it’s important you make the time to see your old friends, otherwise you’ll regret growing apart from them after you’ve graduated, especially if you end up moving back home or somewhere close by.

Exam Revision

This is possibly one of the most important things you can do this Easter. Summer term is time for exams, almost every student will have them. Unlike high school, revising the week before is not a good idea for University exams. You need to make sure you spend plenty of time going over everything you’ve learnt the last two terms, reading through all your notes and working your way through all the recommended reading (we imagine you now regret not doing that extra reading when your tutor told you to).

It might seem daunting and an awful lot to get through, but if you spend some time making a plan for the holidays and spread it all out over the entire month, you should be able to make your way steadily through everything without it becoming too overwhelming.

Pick Up a New Hobby

If you don’t have a job to go home to and you feel relatively prepared for your upcoming exams, you could spend all that free time you have trying something new. Trust us, you’ll never have this much free time again once you’re employed. So, if you’ve always wanted to learn the guitar, take up baking or start a comic series, now is the time to do it. You’ll feel much more accomplished than if you spent the entire holidays inside playing games or watching TV. And you never know, your newly developed skill may help you in the future.

Volunteer

Volunteering is a great way to spend your time, you’ll be helping people who need it and you’ll feel good about yourself, too. Charity shops are always looking for volunteers, or if you fancy being around animals all day, places like the RSPCA are also on the look out for volunteers to come down and socialise with the animals. In a similar vein to internships, you just need to contact these organisations and ask about volunteer opportunities. It’ll be something to put on your CV to show employers how you spent your free time during University.

So, make sure you don’t spend too much time this Easter chowing down on poor chocolate bunnies and get productive. We’ll see you in June when you return to your Lancaster student accommodation.