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My weekend days were generally full with studying or catching up on sleep. I was in a reading-heavy discipline, and had a lot of weeknight practices (music and theatre, mostly), so reading would get backed up. This was pretty standard where I went (also a small school in a small town, probably a lot like yours...2,500 pop. college, small, picturesque town).
There were some who would walk down to the movie theatre, or go for brunch down in town (our campus was situated on a river bluff overlooking a small, charming town), or played ultimate frisbee, which was a thing. I always envied them, because I really needed my days on the weekend to catch up on a backlog of reading, usually (especially if socializing in the evening), and didn't have a lot by way of spending money anyway. I'm sure I would have had more free time to hang out if I hadn't opted to sing in chorales or be in plays or play an instrument, but dropping those things would have made me unhappy, so my spare time got scheduled as extra study time. Tradeoffs.
There were some people who seemingly always had time to hang out, and I honestly wondered when in the heck they studied. I figured they either had less heavy courseloads, weren't as concerned about top grades, or were simply more efficient studiers.
get a $120 airsoft 1911 gas op blowback pistol, a $120 CED shot timer for airsoft, and join a group that plays cops and robbers with airsoft. Get $30 face/neck protection and wear a jacket, cause those things STING when they hit you at 350 fps. About $40 will buy you a decent ccw holster. learn useful things.
Find a brown belt, or first degree black belt who has no store front expenses, and gives small (4 people or less) or individual classes. They'll cost you $10-20 an hour, but until you get 100 or so hours of such high-quality training, larger, cheaper classes will just teach you bad habits.
you can also get a .22 autopistol and start learning to use real guns. I love to hunt small game and vermin with a quality .22lr handgun. YOu have to know your animals, terrain, stalking and you have to be able to reliably hit 2" disks at 25 yds, under field conditions. With iron sights, that aint easy. Wear ear protection even when hunting, for the actual shot. Norton "earvalve" plugs let you hear normal sounds, but block the blasts. $12 or so on Amazon.
My weekend days were generally full with studying or catching up on sleep. I was in a reading-heavy discipline, and had a lot of weeknight practices (music and theatre, mostly), so reading would get backed up. This was pretty standard where I went (also a small school in a small town, probably a lot like yours...2,500 pop. college, small, picturesque town).
There were some who would walk down to the movie theatre, or go for brunch down in town (our campus was situated on a river bluff overlooking a small, charming town), or played ultimate frisbee, which was a thing. I always envied them, because I really needed my days on the weekend to catch up on a backlog of reading, usually (especially if socializing in the evening), and didn't have a lot by way of spending money anyway. I'm sure I would have had more free time to hang out if I hadn't opted to sing in chorales or be in plays or play an instrument, but dropping those things would have made me unhappy, so my spare time got scheduled as extra study time. Tradeoffs.
There were some people who seemingly always had time to hang out, and I honestly wondered when in the heck they studied. I figured they either had less heavy courseloads, weren't as concerned about top grades, or were simply more efficient studiers.
You seem to be implying that I don't study on weekends. I do, just not every minute. And I wouldn't say I have a light courseload. When I'm not studying, I'd like to be doing more exciting things than just watching TV or surfing the Web. Those kinds of days are nice once in a while, but not all the time. Fortunately, there is a lot going on today in terms of events, but very few weekend days are like today.
A lot of people have the idea that every class at a state school is a huge auditorium with 600 students. Maybe in some classes at some schools, but many classes are just what she said. I only had a couple of classes like that. DD is at state school now and the same; most classes are small with the opportunity to pick very interesting courses. Even though it's located in a small town (classic college town), she hasn't lacked for anything to do.
Most colleges have some sort of activities, intermurals, hiking, camping, skiing, you name. Drop by your rec center and sign up.
We really don't have activities like that. It is an extremely artsy college, so most organizations are focused on theater and the arts, which I am not into. And I like to hike and hunt, but I don't like basketball, football, etc.
You seem to be implying that I don't study on weekends. I do, just not every minute. And I wouldn't say I have a light courseload. When I'm not studying, I'd like to be doing more exciting things than just watching TV or surfing the Web. Those kinds of days are nice once in a while, but not all the time. Fortunately, there is a lot going on today in terms of events, but very few weekend days are like today.
I'm surprised none of your friends or dorm-mates are around to hang out with spontaneously. Just to talk and listen to music, or go out for coffee on a study break, or something.
You say you're not into theater. I wasn't either, but I volunteered to help out in the costume dept. simply as a way to meet people, and for something to do. Or you could help with sets. Later, I volunteered in the Music Dept. archives, helping them make copies of all their recordings, and keep things organized. I got to listen to a lot of great music that way, and make copies for myself.
Get a part-time job ...v
Or volunteer ... at homeless shelter, go rake some old widow lady's leaves, go to an old folks home and bring cheer to people who don't have families. Find some business type who does what you're interested in doing and spent time shadowing them ...
I'm surprised none of your friends or dorm-mates are around to hang out with spontaneously. Just to talk and listen to music, or go out for coffee on a study break, or something.
You say you're not into theater. I wasn't either, but I volunteered to help out in the costume dept. simply as a way to meet people, and for something to do. Or you could help with sets. Later, I volunteered in the Music Dept. archives, helping them make copies of all their recordings, and keep things organized. I got to listen to a lot of great music that way, and make copies for myself.
No. Absolutely none of them are around during the day, and when they are around, they just want to sit in the lounge. And they never want to go into town because they don't want to spend any bit of money.
Because like any other college student, I need some downtime.
We all needed down time here and there, but if you're truly BORED then you don't have enough to do.
Our down time was stolen moments here and there or a planned thing once in a while. Every single weekend? Feels like you're wasting your youth when you should be hustling, getting things done, and improving yourself.
Things I did outside my 5-8 class/semester classload, IM sports, microbio research, service clubs, college athletics (I was on the UT crew team and bowling team), textbook editing, and volunteer work:
Learned to play guitar
Martial arts
Restored a motorcycle
Traveled to Mexico (construction/health work), France (Normany Scholars), Russia (exchange)
Horseback riding lesson (was good at Western and picked up English)
Hustled pool at a local hall
Went to the gym
Pick up bball games
Etc
Time to branch out. I also went to a small college (liberal arts, undergrad only, ~2200 total population) in a small town. I don't remember ever being bored on weekends. I did some studying, but not a ton. I was involved in some clubs that did meet on weekends, I had a diverse group of friends (not a close-knit group, but friends from different programs and areas) so if I wanted to hang out with someone, I could usually find someone. I don't remember watching TV ever in college. The town and area was walkable (if you don't mind .5-2 miles of walking to get to some of the cooler places), which was great because no one seemed to have a car. The vast majority of undergrads lived in dorms-- in fact, it was a requirement for at least 2 years (after that, you could apply to live off campus, but there were typical houses people lived in). The town was small, but had some great parks and outdoor areas that were simply gorgeous. I often did things like that with friends, played board games, or went to any events on campus during the weekend.
If I were you, I'd look at other clubs and events going on, try to meet some other people-- like your walk when you saw people walking around in town? That's how I met several of my friends-- we saw each other when we were walking around separately and started making plans to meet on occasion. I loved my college experience. I went to a huge university for graduate school and I can see the advantages that would have offered in undergrad, but I was really happy with my undergrad experience.
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