The Cornell Daily Sun (https://cornellsun.com/tag/fall_break/)
I personally advocate for the back-home-break; I find that mid-semester trips or vacations are not particularly restful. Here’s my guide for the best possible break at home — split into four days each with a different ethos.
It’s nice to get away from campus and explore the world, but it can also be delightful to stay back and relax without having to worry as much about schoolwork. Although I used to believe that the most vibrant part of Ithaca is the rotation of students that come from around the world to study at Cornell, spending both the summer and several breaks here have led me to believe otherwise.
As students return from fall break travel outside of Ithaca, the University is asking — but not mandating — that they take antigen tests before returning and before beginning to resume their regular campus activities.
As the first round of prelims conclude, Cornellians are excited about their plans for the extended fall break weekend.
This break is an opportunity to reset your body’s rest clock and finish the second half of the semester even stronger than the first. I cannot say enough that you must take the time to relieve some of the stress going on in your life. The most productive stage of performance is in a tolerable stress range: too much or too little stress leads us to be too comfortable or not comfortable enough to perform well. But breaks do not require us to be at performance stress levels. Breathe, rest and recuperate to come back better.
This year seems to feel no different than any other academic year we had. Except for the fact that it’s characterized by a very different reality from 2019 – a global pandemic, a worsening climate crisis and global economic crises. I was swallowed as a sophomore and spit back out as a senior, and I’m still trying to process the past year. I find myself a little more emotional than usual – both missing home, friends and family in sunny California. And yet clumsily trying to absorb as much of the treasured time I have with my friends in an arrangement that seems unlike the ones I will encounter after May.
The relentless pursuit of academic perfection has been weighing heavily on my mind since we returned from fall break. My Fall Break was spent in the Adirondacks without touching or even thinking about the piles of schoolwork I could’ve been doing. After all, it was Fall Break, so I took a break.
Studying for exams, running ultramarathons, watching movies and visiting friends are just a few of the ways that Cornell students spent the first fall break in two years.
A four-day mid-semester pause from classes would seem to offer ample time for students to recharge and focus on well-being and sleep. Nor is this an accident, as The Faculty Handbook Project makes clear: “Short breaks from academic requirements are intentionally included in the academic calendar to provide rest, respite and a break from schoolwork.” Cornell Health further emphasizes the need for rest, especially sleep, with an entire page dedicated to sleep-related health. It recommends students take 7-9 hours every night to get sleep — which, in its words, “is a necessity, not a luxury.”
But is that consistent with the messages our instructors are sending us? Take, for example, the all-too-common practice of professors assigning work during breaktime. When students get work over break, the obvious implication is that the assigned work should trump any need for a proper break.
After weeks of exams, papers and responsibilities, fall break offers a welcome respite for students to destress and relax. Many Cornell students decide to go home or get away from campus, though some students simply live too far away or choose not to step off campus for a quick vacation.