As a student at the University of Toronto, I start my academic year in September and end in April. This gives me eight straight months of classes and four long months of break. While that does mean that I do get a much longer break than most people, that also means I get no breaks at all throughout my school year.
During the eight months of school, I only get one week off each semester and two weeks off in between the two semester for Christmas. Considering a lot of people get the entire month off for Christmas, a two week break is basically nothing. This does make my work a lot "grindier" as I'm always working up towards some test or project deadline.
On the other hand, I do get a longer break where I can really relax well. I can travel, start multiple personal projects, get an internship, and take courses and I'll still have more time to do other things.
Personally, I really enjoy this schedule, especially since I live in Thailand and go to university in Toronto. If my break was any shorter, I wouldn't be able to spend as much time in Thailand. Had my break been two months, I would've been very hesitant to get an intership. Had it been three months, I would probably try to get an internship for the entire 3 months. With a four month break, I have enough time to get a worthwhile internship and still relax.
This year, before I had came back to Thailand, I wrote down a list of things I wanted to do during my break. Apart from getting an internship, this list includes training chess, starting up a shirt store, making a website (the one you're on right now), learning a new language (Toki Pona), writing a song, updating my social media profiles, and much much more. As there are ~15 things on my list, I don't expect to be able to accomplish all of my goals. However, my progress so far has been way above my expectations.
So far, I already got an internship at Ascend Money and am working there every weekday. My chess training has been going very well and I've never been more prepared for the opening. My website is already up at the time I'm writing this and I have clear ideas on how I can improve it. I found a business partner to help me with selling shirts and it looks like it's all coming together. The song that I'm writing is also coming together and I'll be ready to record a demo soon. I finished updating my LinkedIn and my GitHub account within 2 days but am still trying to find inspiration for youtube. I'm ready to apply for next years programs and work studies. Finally, I've been able to manage the U of T Thai student association pretty well.
After such a long school year, it's kind of insane how much personal projects I am able to do during my break. It's only been the first month of my break and I already got so many things either done or close to done. Personally, I feel super productive doing things I want to do. All I can say is I love the four month break at U of T.