The end of the school year is already approaching, which means final exams/assignments are getting closer. However, so is summer holiday. I personally cannot wait for this year to be over and celebrate a well-deserved break from academic responsibilities, but how to spend that time? Here are some ideas I hope you can gain inspiration from.
Travel
This is definitely not an original summer idea, and I’m sure many of you already have trips planned, but there seems to be something exciting and wonderful about traveling that makes it so special – at least for many people. This could be because you see things you’ve never seen before, get into contact with new cultures/people, try new foods/drinks, or just because of the general holiday feeling you get when you’re in a new environment. And you don’t even have to travel far to experience this feeling; I’m certain there are a lot of places you haven’t been to yet, even in your own country. Personally, I would want to travel to (almost) every destination possible, but that may, unfortunately, be a little hard to achieve. What you could do within Europe though, is go interrailing. Here, you buy a pass so you can travel unlimitedly by train for a certain period of time, which enables you to see many places at once. Germany also recently introduced a ticket with which you can travel through the country by public transport for only 9 (!) euros a month.
Enjoy the sun
This one kind of speaks for itself, but go outside and enjoy the sun! As the Dutch weather is (usually) better in summer, it’s the perfect time to do outside activities. Find some time to sit on your balcony / in your garden (if you have one), go to the park or beach, or have a picnic with friends. You could also have a water balloon/gun fight – I honestly have no idea why we stopped doing that when we grew older – or go water skiing / wakeboarding if you’re feeling more adventurous.
Make your own ice cream
Did you know that it’s actually really easy to make your own ice cream? All you need is (vegan) whipped cream and condensed milk, that’s it! Ice cream is essentially a blank canvas, so the possibilities are endless: cookie butter, apple pie, maple miso, you name it. One tip I came across is to add extra virgin olive oil to the ice cream to give it a creamier texture. This was mentioned in a recipe for chocolate chip ice cream that I recently tried and would 10/10 recommend. You can find the recipe here: https://food52.com/recipes/87750-best-chocolate-chip-ice-cream-recipe (cacao nibs are a little more expensive but they do really make a difference). Or, if you want some fruitier/healthier, dairy-free ice cream you can try making sorbet by blending frozen fruit. My favourite is banana “nice cream” (with cinnamon, Oreo, or peanut butter and cacao nibs), but the possibilities are, again, endless.
Try something you’ve always wanted to do
Summer holiday is the perfect time to try new things since you’ve got a lot of free time before school and/or work starts and you’ll have too many other responsibilities to deal with again. You could pick up new activities like baking, skating/skateboarding, or be adventurous and go zip lining from the Euromast (which I can recommend, if you’re not afraid of heights that is). Of course, you could also do somewhat smaller things like finally reading that book you bought or watch a show that has been on your watch list for ages. I am going to be cliché and say that life is short, so why wait with doing something when you can do it now?
Do something on your own
It may seem a little boring or daunting to do certain things on your own, but I recently discovered that it’s actually nice, or therapeutic even, to do something by yourself. This does not have to be something super special; you can start with small things like treating yourself to a coffee/pastry or visiting a museum. Eventually, you may start to appreciate your own company more and more and start doing ‘bigger’ activities by yourself as well – even travel perhaps. This is something I would recommend doing all year, but summer is a great place to start as the good weather may encourage you to undertake things more.
I hope you got some inspiration (and ice cream recipes) out of this blog post. I’ll already be daydreaming about summer holiday, but, for now, good luck with your final assignments and exams! Almost there 😉
Author: Marit van der Kwaak
Editor: Phoebe Elliott
Visuals by: Jülide Aytuğ