D.O. culture staff shares winter-break excursions
Courtesy of Daily Orange Culture Staff
Get the latest Syracuse news delivered right to your inbox.
Subscribe to our newsletter here.
What’s the majority opinion at the Daily Orange right now? Summer break is so much better than winter break. You can’t really work over winter break, so you end up “relaxing,” but relaxation with family lingering around asking you “oh, how’s school?” isn’t always feasible. The stress of the holiday season gets to you, too. But overall, the DO staff does feel recharged from their time away from the Salt City.
Check out the DO culture staff’s winter break activities below.
Mia Jones, assistant culture editor
Winter break is when the clock finally slows down. Where I can reconnect with my therapist, redownload TikTok and rewatch the entirety of “Gossip Girl” (notice all the “re’s”?). While I don’t get to spend my holiday season on the Upper East Side, I do get to spend it in snowy Grand Rapids, Michigan. I can bask in the simple joys of the Midwest and pray I don’t run into anyone from high school while I do my Christmas shopping. I spent a pretty good chunk of my break working at J. Crew.
When I wasn’t schlepping clothes around, I was probably hanging out with my girlfriends or my little sisters. I can’t forget the trip to Chicago with my best friend and the time spent near a cold Lake Michigan. While this break has been the perfect opportunity for me to catch up on sleep and sanity before another busy semester, it’s thankfully time to head back to campus. See you on the flip side, Syracuse.
Spencer Howard, assistant culture editor
This winter break served as an opportunity for a disheveled sophomore to regain his footing before charging forward into another semester chock full of the usual collegiate endeavors. After a lengthy semester of RA duties, evaluating student work in PST 101 and juggling social media content creation, the break was a much-needed reprieve. What did I do to cherish this intermission? The simple answer is so much and so little.
I spent most of the time in my hometown, regressing into the habits of my teenage self and experiencing major caffeine withdrawal. I spent way too much money on Wawa and Yerba Mates, and way too much of my time on Fortnite and Minecraft.
When I wasn’t excessively caffeinated or getting victory royales on a Nintendo Switch, I was spending time with my four-month-old nephew and hometown friends.
After spending New Year’s Eve in Philadelphia, my friends and I found tranquility at the Jersey shore. On Long Beach Island, we explored the Barnegat Lighthouse at sunset and watched “When Harry Met Sally,” a rom-com I had never seen before.
The break was a peaceful interlude that left me motivated and optimistic about the semester ahead.
Irene Lekakis, assistant culture editor
This winter break, I spent Christmas on the beach. It was a nice change of pace from the typical cold but snowless New York City winter. Although, this year, we did get a few flurries about a week after Christmas.
Other than that sunny week in the middle of December, my break consisted of applying to jobs for the summer, meeting up with friends from high school and hearing my parents complain about congestion pricing.
I found a new bagel spot that I like and finished watching “Normal People.” While somewhat unproductive, I think the break was a good reset point for me, especially after a particularly difficult semester where I overwhelmed myself. Sometimes, you just need a month to be around people you love and places you know.
Sydney Brockington, assistant copy editor
As I finished my third semester and entered my second winter break, I found myself dreading ideas of what to do during break. With a month on my hands, I knew I had to find something to do.
My break began with a visit to one of my favorite cities, Philadelphia. Snow and Christmas lights lined the streets leading up to Love Park as I entered Christmas Village for what felt like the millionth time. The German Christmas market is a yearly tradition in Philly. Every year, I find myself walking along the market snacking on European-style foods and shopping for Christmas gifts. Hot chocolate kept me warm as I explored the village, always finding something different from the year before. This year, I stumbled upon Andrey’s Gifts From Afar, featuring pottery candle houses and nesting dolls.
As my break continued, I spent time with my family and friends and recharged for the upcoming semester.
My break ended as it began, taking a trip back to Philly with my mother for Sunday brunch. Visits to her hometown and my birthplace are always special; we reminisce on old favorites and discover new ones. I treasure moments like this the most over break, in warm, familiar spaces before I leave and return to Syracuse.
Savannah Stewart, assistant copy editor
There’s peace in returning to your hometown after some time away. So, during this past winter break, I was sure to take full advantage of old stomping grounds during my travels south from Syracuse to my hometown of Washington, D.C.
Gallivanting the city, I navigated nostalgia and found solace amid the chaos of hundreds of out-of-town shoppers, traversing each block of M Street during the sluggish weeks between Thanksgiving and New Year’s.
Many of my days looked the same as before I’d left for college: volunteering at Martha’s Table at The Commons, settling back into slow mornings nestled in Compass Coffee and enjoying evenings with girlfriends at hole-in-the-wall Adams Morgan eateries. Still, the below freezing temperatures and half-foot of snow made for a wonderful Washington winter welcome back.
Charlotte Price, assistant digital editor
Over winter break, I learned that brunch can be a verb. I brunched. It seems like the generally accepted way to reunite with hometown friends is over french toast and bacon, usually at 11 a.m. It’s the default suggestion for any casual meeting of two girls. Even as I look back on my repetitive social pattern, I can’t think of a better alternative. It provides an activity and a time limit, in case the conversation gets strained or awkward. It’s the friendship version of a perfect first date: the best way to see a friend that went to a different college (that you probably should’ve texted more while you were away).
Despite my love for brunching, I envy my boyfriend’s ability to see his friends spontaneously, without the need to purchase overpriced breakfast food. Their default is to just sit around in someone’s basement. Who knows what they talk about.
I wonder what kind of future these brunch friendships hold. Am I destined to see these friends on a quarterly basis, and only in the magic hours between 10 a.m and 12 p.m? Will I always be in a state of “catching up” with people I once shared so much with? Brunch is comfortable, easy, and best of all yummy. But I hope that my friendships won’t always rely on a polite meal.
Eliana Rosen, assistant digital editor
A month off of school is a long time and I took full advantage. I visited my family, rode a jet ski, watched dolphins, tried new restaurants, celebrated New Year’s Eve in New York City, lit the Hanukkah candles, went to a Miami Heat game and saw “Romeo + Juliet” on Broadway (highly recommend).
But, the best parts of this past month were the times spent doing … nothing.
As a freshman, this was my first real break from school. In high school, my days off were spent completing AP assignments, studying for tests or completing college applications. Even my summers, amazing and carefree for the most part, always required time carved out to complete my summer reading for the year ahead. This year, during fall break and Thanksgiving, I still had assignments hanging over my head, waiting to be submitted.
So, I knew I wanted to be 100% present during winter break, a time when I couldn’t do homework even if I wanted to and when no one was expecting anything from me.
The most magical, memorable moments were spent driving around my hometown with my high school friends, forcing my family to play Scrabble in a hotel lobby and eating dinner with my grandparents. These moments may not have made it to my Instagram story, but they’ll be the memories I cherish most: simply soaking up the time with people whose presence in my life used to be daily, but now requires scheduling and planning.
Now, it’s back to the chaos. But I’m ready.
Ben Butler, culture editor
I love my mom. I want to make it clear that a big part of my break was spent with loved ones, and my mom fits in that category.
But my mom might be certifiably insane.
We traveled to Acadia National Park, up in Maine. I’ve been there in the summer, but this was starkly different: snow as far as the eye could see and brutally cold. Invisible trails with rock scrambles coated in ice. Our first day there, I led us on a great five mile hike along the beautiful Mt. Desert Island coast, then up 800 feet on Gorham Mountain, a beautiful trail under rock formations.
That night, my mom laid out a plan. We would wake up at 5 a.m. and hike Cadillac Mountain, Acadia’s highest peak, and summit just in time for the sunrise. Being an adventurous spirit, I took her up on that offer. She assured us the trail would be only 3 miles, nothing too grueling.
As we hit mile four the summit not in sight, that adventurous spirit started to leave my body. By mile 10, I remember some less than kind thoughts about my mom.
But I got through it, and lived to tell the story. I’d say the sunrise was worth the leg pain anyway. Love you, mom.
Published on January 13, 2025 at 11:32 pm