Do you take a break from work in Dec/Jan?

[eco_env]

I'm tempted to take a winter break because I'm not sure I can get anything done in the lab in the next few weeks anyway. I'm wondering what people in different fields do.

[Bimmerman]

Most folks I know take a 1-2 week break.

If you'd be going to the lab just to have butt-in-seat time.....I'd go on vacation. Sitting idly is a waste of time IMO.

[jbriar]

I wish. I work with international students, so I'm full time during the breaks. Just as finals end, a new group is coming in for the next quarter and they need housing, books, orientations, testing...

On the bright side, I have a job, and I'm thankful for that.

-J

[eco_env]

I guess I should keep reminding myself of the greenhouse gas emissions that going home entails- ~2.5K lbs for the round trip.

[ktel]

I just finished my end of term stuff (exams, research report, etc.) and leave for home in a week. I will be home for 2 weeks, so I'm taking about 3 weeks off. I will probably do a little bit of research during my break however.

[Eigen]

I'll probably take off the Monday and Tuesday after Christmas... And maybe the Friday before. I'm not really sure past that.

My group is all International students, but they still take the week around Christmas to New Years at least partially off.

[rising_star]

I always take 10-12 days off.

[fuzzylogician]

I'll be away for about three weeks starting the day before Christmas. Not much sense in flying far away for less time, I think, given the cost of flights and the jetlag. I'll try and give 1-2 talks at my old university and there are a few work-related issues I'll have to attend to while I'm away, but aside from that I hope for a mostly work-free vacation.

[StrangeLight]

i'm not going home for the holidays this year, but even if i was, i'd take work with me. i have comps and my overview next semester. i still need to read about 20 of my comps books and re-read/skim another 20 because my notes weren't good enough first time around. my advisor is also going to expect a draft of my overview early next semester, and i haven't touched it since september when she gave me the greenlight on my project. ugh.

i'll take this friday and saturday to veg out, then get back to work sunday, albeit at a more leisurely pace than during the semester. my school only gives us two and a half weeks for winter break anyway, we have a quick turnaround.

[eco_env]

I'm being forced to take a break because my research is going nowhere, but I'll stay near campus (rather than flying home to my parents), in case I get a chance to get something started. So... I don't really know how long this break is going to be; it's already over a week since I've been on campus. Hopefully it won't be much longer, but it seems like if everyone I rely on is taking a break, it would be hard for me to get stuff done.

[long_time_lurker]

I have 4 weeks off, weeks 1, 3, and 4 I have my day job, so during week 2 will be my "vacation" to veg out and do nothing, and before I go back I'm going away for MLK weekend to Montreal. In weeks 3 and 4 though I'll be doing a lot of reading and problem sets to prep for the new semester when I'm not redoing my spare bedroom for my baby-on-the-way.

The guy in my cohort who is from out of town is going home for the break, and another guy is spending Christmas to New Years with his family before coming back. We'll probably do some problem sets together here and there before class starts.

[neuropsych76]

My break is technically 4 weeks long but I'll be home for 3 weeks. I just finished my first semester and was planning on working on some research ideas/proposals but my advisor told me to relax and rest as much as I can over break haha

[NinjaMermaid]

I was forced this semester to take a break due to the death of my 18yr old dog. But otherwise, I would say I might have only 2 or 3 days with no work. Between grants and data - there is too much to be done.

[theregalrenegade]

I'm always reading articles, books, or researching schools, programs, POIs no matter what...so even though I have a break from classes, I'll still manage to work when I have free time. Over the holidays and breaks, I just don't SCHEDULE it in

[katerific]

I'm taking a week to go home for Christmas (starting this Thursday), but my advisor actually expects me to get a lot of work/research done prior to classes starting in mid-Jan. So I'll be a busy bee upon my return! But when I'm home I'll probably be catching up on reading articles and journals....

[juilletmercredi]

I don't have to be in the lab to do work, so usually I go on vacation for a week or two and take some of my work with me. Usually I only go away for 1-1.5 weeks and it's usually just to go home and visit my family, but this year I'm going away for two weeks, a few days of which will be spent in Florida. I also have to be back early because I work a res life graduate assistantship and we start training again on Jan 10, even though classes don't start back until Jan 17.

Honestly, more and more I'd rather not go home and visit or go on a vacation. Vacations are exhausting, especially these family kinds (my SO's family wanted to go to Orlando. Disney/Universal Studios is just not appealing to me at age 25, and I'm not really sure why we are gong because no one in the family is younger than 15). All the packing, getting to the airport, taxing, seeing stuff, getting pack, ugh. I do like to go home and relax with my own family because they usually make things easy for me vis-a-vis getting to and from the airport, and we don't tend to have to DO EVERYTHING - it's nice just relaxing with them and talking, and going to the mall and doing stupid stuff with my younger sister. His family is much more "it's a vacation, it means we have to do everything, here's an itinerary and it starts at 9 am".

If it were my choice, I'd stay in NY/NJ for Christmas - spend Christmas with my cousins in the area - and then fly down between Christmas and New Year's to see my family, stay for a week, and then come back to veg out a little more before the school year officially starts.

[runonsentence]

I committed myself to a book review for a journal over break, and also want to get a paper I wrote last quarter out for review. While my break from classes has involved a fair amount of idle couch vegetation so far, I do hope to have a productive break to get caught up on these kinds of projects that I don't have time for during coursework.

[HyacinthMacaw]

Absolutely I'll take a break! I can't afford to lose sight of what matters to me--nurturing relationships with friends and family. I know some people work continuously and/or are hard on themselves about it, perhaps because that's what they value and that's how they derive their self-worth. That's fine, and I'm not judging. I just know that if I neglect my relationships with the people I care about, I would go insane. I'm now planning my career accordingly.

(My value for building relationships, carving out such an appropriate existence given the constraints of academia, explains my topic on "How family-friendly is life as a professor". I thank you all for your thoughtful comments.)

If we live to work, we'll work to death. Work to live instead. At least I subscribe to that maxim in my case.

[geochic]

I can't take any time off because of equipment maintenance in my lab. My project is really a 7 day a week project and it's already pushing it that I take the weekends off.

[RNadine21]

I'm taking three weeks off, and honestly I was surprised I could get away with that. But there's nothing at the lab to do right now. Besides, I've been getting a lot of financial work done (working on conference grants, looking for grants/fellowships to apply for). I know may people in my program though who are already back. It seems to depend on the nature of your work.