The day of winter break, after the bell gave its final toll, students rushed out of school to return home, looking forward to an entire two weeks away from school. During these two weeks, many students, including myself, have stayed up late and slept in late.

But now that we are returning to school, everyone has to readjust their daily routine to fit in school and homework. On top of sleeping schedules, there is also material in classes that many people need to familiarize themselves with again.

One problem that I've found concerning long breaks from school is that not everyone takes a restful "break." There is always the prospect of staying over with friends and other distractions that could lead to little or no sleep on some days. I have often had friends come back from break saying, "I literally got no sleep!"

Then there is the problem of forgetting material in class that was covered in the weeks before break. I know most people don't review the previous semester when they can be having fun. Uni has the no-homework-over-winter-break rule, which is very helpful for relieving stress, but I think maybe an optional extra-credit worksheet or something like that would be helpful and would make the first few days back easier to manage.

Another thing that could be done is to shorten winter break. Uni already has a longer break than most other schools, so maybe reducing it by half a week off wouldn't hurt too much. Then again, that might not give people who visit distant relatives enough time to kick back and relax before returning home.

While Uni has done a good job of making winter break a pleasant … well … break from school, it really depends on the student to make it as restful or unrestful as possible.