How to spend your Student Summer

The “Do-Gooder”

A popular choice for students has always been travelling to deprived, often third world countries in order to help the locals for several weeks at a time. Students spend weeks building houses, teaching maths and literacy or handing out mosquito nets and come away with a feeling that they spent their summer holidays doing something for the greater good. For us at home we are left with an insane amount of jealously because their mate is helping others, getting a tan and boosting their CV whilst we watch reruns of The OC.

One of our writers spent last Summer helping kids in Morocco

Placement friend

The bane of many a student’s life is placement, and everyone has lost at least one friend to this dreaded disease. The stress of finding one and then actually having to stuff yourself into a pencil skirt or ties while everyone is out drinking to excess is no way for any student to spend their Summer. At the very least you can be happy you are earning money while the rest of scrape by.

Magaluf weekender

Are you the next slappa’ of Ayia Napa? Is no carbs before Marbs a way of life for you? LADS holidays and girls getaways to places like Magaluf, Malia, Kavos (the list continues) are always a popular way to block out the memory of exams and have become a rite of passage for all students. Spending your days bronzing on the beach, combined with drinking until well after dawn in the evenings makes for an amazing holiday.

Magaluf’s world famous BCM is a must for any holidaymaker

Inter-railing

The best way to get around the sights of Europe is with a 3 week inter-railing pass, your friends and a back pack. What was once a totes indie type holiday is now extremely popular with all students and is a sure fire way to see several countries, get drunk every night and experience the horror of night trains in a foreign country.

Festival hitter

Festivals are not for the faint hearted, 4 days in a muddy field with no showers and a portaloo may not sound ideal but from personal experience they are definitely worth it. Whether you’re going to the mother of festivals Glastonbury, or more local ones like Belsonic or Oxegen a music festival is something all students should experience before their own filth grosses them out too much. If I had the choice myself I would spend every holiday at a music festival – daytime boozing, your friends and you’re favourite bands – what could be better?

Festival fashion was wasted on me at Oxegen 2011. Being drunk by 1pm was not.

Camp America

Like, totally, the most, like awesome way to spend a Summer in the US of A? Thousands of students are applying each year to be counsellors at Camps all of America. Spending your summer getting paid to hang out at lakes, play some sports and soaking up some rays whilst making sure some kids don’t start a riot sounds like a dream right? Well, the dream continues with a few weeks travelling with your new mates until you return home to reality in September with University just around the corner. For anyone doing this I am well jeal.

Living the American Dream

Last but not least is the…

Skint Student Summer

This is the sad student who blew through their loan and got themselves into an overdraft that is so deep they are almost in China and as a consequence will spend all Summer working in the local shop and listening to their parents whinging everyday about the housework that needs done. This student needs to have patience, a will to survive and a calendar at their side so they can count the days until Uni starts again.

Two fingers up to everyone doing anything fun over the Summer without me