Three Things I Did During Fall Break

This was the first “official” fall break and Thanksgiving in my life. This one-week break allowed me to have some time to relax and recharge during the busy and nearing end of the semester. However, I didn't spend all the time vegging in my house; instead, I managed my time properly. It was really a pleasant and fruitful week.

I mainly did these 3 things this week:
 

• Short trips: Because the fall break was not so long, I thought it was not worth traveling far away; and because I did not have a car, I merely took the bus and explored Urbana-Champaign. I visited a local park and met some cute ducks and geese there. The picturesque autumnal view was amazing! I also went to Parkland College, located in the northwest of Champaign, as well as the on-campus and well-known William M. Staerkel Planetarium (though it wasn’t open to the public that day). The school is purely beautiful, just like a hidden paradise. In addition to these small trips, I went to several markets and shopping malls to experience the enthusiasm of everyone shopping on Black Friday.
• Cooking: I have made a list of dishes I would like to make by myself before, but I didn’t have time to try those because of the busy schoolwork. Until the fall break, I finally had time for it. The weekend before break, I made a pizza and shared it with my friends. We enjoyed a Thanksgiving feast that gathered everyone’s specialty dishes in advance of the actual Thanksgiving day. Besides, I tried out some other dishes and snacks myself, including seaweed stew, Korean rice cakes, caramel walnuts, dried cranberries, etc. Surprisingly, they all tasted awesome!
• Practicing and doing assignments: The semester has not yet ended and there is still homework waiting for me to complete. I also had to prepare for my final piano jury coming up in December. Therefore, in addition to somewhat relaxing, I still made plans on my daily schedule and allocated at least four hours a day for schoolwork. Taking advantage of the school’s opening hours, I studied in the music library and practiced piano in the practice room. These also made my holiday more fulfilling.

Time flew, and one week of break passed quickly, but I’m glad that my first-ever fall break turned out to be very memorable and wonderful!

Chin-Hsuan Sharon Cheng (written in November, 2021)

​秋假我做的3件事

這是我第一次經歷真正的秋假和感恩節，這週假期讓我在忙碌且接近尾聲的學期中能有個稍微能放鬆、充電的時間，但我也沒有因此而耍廢度日，仍然有妥善規劃時間，美好的假期過得很充實。
在這一週，我主要做了這三件事：

• 小旅行：因為秋假也沒有很長，不適合出遠門旅遊，而且我也沒有自己的車子，所以找了幾個公車能到的地方，搭車去走走看看。去了個公園散心，在那邊看到很多可愛的鴨子和鵝，美麗的秋天風景也讓我心曠神怡，也去了位在香檳西北邊的Parkland College和裡面著名的William M. Staerkel Planetarium朝聖（雖然當天沒有對外開放），漂亮的學校像是世外桃源一樣，很有特色。除了小景點輕旅行之外，我也去了幾個市集和購物中心逛逛，感受Black Friday大家購物的熱情。
• 做菜：之前我列了一個想要嘗試的菜名的清單，但苦於平時生活忙碌，一直沒時間實作。這週終於稍微空閒下來，除了剛放假的週末我烤了個pizza跟朋友們一起分享，提前享用了集結大家的拿手菜的豐盛感恩節大餐，其餘時間我也自己研究做了一些料理，包含海帶滷味、韓式年糕、琥珀核桃、蔓越莓果乾等等，出乎意料還滿成功的，味道都還不錯。
• 練琴做作業：因為學期還沒正式結束，還有期末的報告與考試需要完成，所以這週除了適時放鬆外，我仍然規劃每天的行程，把握學校有開放的時間，認真寫作業和去琴房練琴，每日堅持四小時以上投入課業。在圖書館專注讀書和琴房練琴也讓我的連假更充實。

時間過得很快，一轉眼一週就結束了，但我很慶幸自己有好好利用時間，讓我的第一個正式的秋假非常特別和難忘。