Staycation

Seeing most of your friends going back to their own country or going on a vacation abroad, experiencing adventures, living their life, it may leave you with the question, what should I do? You’re here, and perhaps that’s a good thing, perhaps it was good to stay.

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1. Learn solitude

Your were surrounded by your friends, you were dependent on being with them. Not a bad thing of course, social connections are important for the mental mind. However, if without them you feel ‘lonely’, perhaps it’s good to learn how to be alone. What is meant by that, is to find solitude in going to the movies alone, sitting in a coffee shop alone, go on a trip alone. Give yourself some time with the one person that will never leave your side, yourself.

2. Find a summer job/internship

It’s always good to gain some more experience. You know what they say, work hard, play hard. If money was an obstruct for you to go on vacation in the first place, this a good time to earn some extra pocket money. However, remember, to work does not always respectively mean to receive money. You can also work just for the fun of it, meaning meeting new people, helping people, talking to people, you name it. It may not work out, you may hate it, you may love it, but all is okay, because it’s vacation anyways.

3. Start new/old beginnings

Have you ever wanted to do something, or thought something was so cool, that you wanted to learn it? During the school year, we may say that we don’t have timewe have schoolwork to do, social activities to attend, eat, sleep and other things.

However, on a staycation where the first two excuses are generally absent, it is easier to ignite a new passion. What some also may forget is what we loved in our childhood. So what did you love doing, and what passion did you forget you had? We focus too much on others, we focus too much on reaching the standards of success. No, it’s staycation time, start doing it again, just for the sake of doing it.

4. Find buddies also on staycation

As other friends may meet vacation friends, so can you do that by staying. Learning to be alone is a good thing, but if you do not feel like that, or if you already know how to, it never hurts to reach out to other people. They can be from the sports club you attend to, a random stranger at a bus stop, that coincidentally was listening to your favourite band, or someone from the IBCoM group chat.

5. That’s worth the picture

Along with that, here are some places to visit alone or with new friends. You can also look at issue 1, for some more hotspots in Rotterdam.

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Inhale some culture:

✰ Museum van Beuningen Rijksmuseum

✰ Museum voorlinden Kunsthal Madurodam

Pleasant cafes nearby:

✰ The Hague: The Bookstor Cafe Sisi Asian streetfood Rotterdam

✰ Rotterdam: Round and round Pebbles (cat café) Lilith

Or go to the other side of the world:

✰ Arnhem/Apeldoorn: Hoge Veluwe National park with deers

✰ Kaatsheuvel: Amusement park Efteling based on Dutch fairytales

✰ Biddinghuizen: Amusement park Walibi Holland with one of the best roller coasters in the Nether lands.

✰ Assen: Big ancient stone sculptures

✰ Giethoorn: Described as the Dutch venice

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Written by: Louise Lu