From road trips to internships, students plan their extended winter break

With the spring 2021 semester pushed back almost two weeks and set to begin on Jan. 19, UNC students are given more time than usual over their winter break to make plans for travel, internships and time at home. 

Travel plans

Savannah McCabe, senior English and psychology major, is planning a road trip with a friend from New Jersey. McCabe said they wanted to avoid flying to be COVID-19 safe. She said they both plan to get tested and to quarantine before the trip.

“I’m going to go pick her up in New Jersey, and we’re just going to kind of do a road trip to North Carolina,” she said. 

McCabe said they are studying for the LSAT and GRE together, and may show each other around their hometowns, go apple picking or take a day trip to the mountains. She said she is happy for the extended time and if it was not for the longer break, their trip might not be possible. 

However, McCabe said that there are downsides to the longer break.

“There are definitely negatives to it," McCabe said. "Obviously, it's senior year and so there are senior year traditions and you want to be able to be back on campus.”

After being apart from her roommates for a couple months, first-year journalism major Casey Medlin said she and her roommates are planning to reunite to celebrate the holidays. 

“It was a really difficult adjustment to have this idea of what college was going to look like and of what the next few months would look like with these people,” Medlin said. “We were all so excited to live together.”

Medlin said they might go out and do some exploring. 

“More than anything we just want to be together,” she said.

Professional growth

First-year Sarah Choi is working to gain professional experience over break. Choi, a media and journalism major, said she recently got the opportunity to work as a guest writer for a freelance blogger in London and just finished writing her first article.

“Currently I am writing about fashion, so I just did an article about New York Fashion Week,” she said. “Actually, fashion weeks in Paris, Milan, over there too. I’ve just been talking about major trends and attaching some pictures.”

Kabeer Kalra, a first-year computer science and business major, said he will spend his winter break as an intern for a start-up computer software company. Kalra said he will work remotely with the company to build an application.

Kalra said he has had internships in the computer science field before, but that this one will be different from those he has had in the past.

“This one is more of a step up," Kalra said. “I get to have a larger role.”

Time at home

Aryanna Rhoads, a sophomore political science major, is spending the break helping her mom with her at-home daycare. Rhoads said her mother has been working with kids for almost 27 years. She said she helps out with making lunches and making sure siblings get along.

“We’ve just got a little family," Rhoads said. 

Megan Castle, a first-year biology major, said she is planning on spending her break at home, but using the time to consider her plans for extracurriculars next semester.

“I’m trying to take advantage of the extended time to look into some research opportunities,” Castle said.

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