How many times have you caught yourself, telling your parents you can´t Facetime right now, because you have to catch up on so many lectures? Or you cannot write back because there is so much reading waiting for you? How many times have you made excuses for yourself for not answering messages from your old friends back home due to essay deadlines?
It is quite sad to admit, but most of us are quite familiar with neglecting people, who are close to us because of the high-stress environment we put ourselves into to get good (or at least decent) marks. That´s the reason why reading week is so important: we need it to reconnect with those who are so dear to us, but who somehow get lost in the battle of balancing university life, extracurriculars, and a sane state of mind.
My “reading week” was spent back home in Austria with my family and friends. And well, what I discovered was that it´s the little things you enjoy most, when you are back in a world, where Learn and discoverED are just two random English words.
For instance, when did you enjoy a real home-cooked meal the last time? I’m not talking about some random things you picked up from the sale section at Lidl. I´m speaking of that heartily made roast.
Many university students don´t have the time (or the money) to treat themselves a lot of the time. When you are at home, you can just lean back and enjoy not to be responsible for everyday activities for a while, and sometimes you just really need that.
But the things you miss most about home are even smaller than that. It´s when you laugh with your sister about a really bad joke your Mum made, or when you spend hours walking your dog in the neighborhood you grew up in.
It´s when you drive in your old car with your friends from home and listen to old songs you used to like and that remind you of “the good old times”.
Reading week is actually the perfect time to catch up on those moments that you miss while not being at home. Therefore, it shouldn´t be called reading week, flexible learning or whatever nonsense they call it, but rather “reconnecting week” or “quality week”, because life is more than reading or flexible learning. It´s about spending time with your loved ones and enjoying the time off every now and then.
Because honestly, we deserve it.
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