It seems like just yesterday that we all gathered up our belongings and left home for another year of academic endeavors. Yet here we are in March, the semester more than half over. I don’t know about the rest of you, but this semester seems to be dragging on longer than Mick Jagger’s career, which is not a good thing. Yet after weeks and weeks of walking to classes, battling the cold weather, and pulling all-nighters to prepare for exams, spring break is upon us. We finally get to relax, take a respite from our studies and enjoy life a little.

So in honor of this auspicious occasion I racked my brain to come up with what I believe are the 10 best ways to get the maximum enjoyment out of your spring break. These results have been closely scrutinized by high-tech physicists at Cal Tech and MIT and have been checked against widely substantiated variable empirical data to ensure the most accurate results.

So without further ado, here are the ten best ways to spend your spring break [for both teachers and students]:

10) Keep Material Fresh. Obviously most of you do not want to do any work over break, but it might be a good idea to look over school material periodically so that you are not stale in your knowledge when you return from break.

9) Job Search. For you seniors, now is the perfect time to get your resume out to as many places as you can. While most of you have probably already started this process, spring break is prime time for job searching and getting your face out there.

8) Play video games. It seems a lot has changed since the 80s when only kids played video games. The average age of most video gamers now lies in the range of 25-35 years. So perhaps you have a game that you’ve just been dying to play, but haven’t had a chance because of classes. Well now you can play, so break out that XBOX and get ready for some 16-player Halo!

7) Catch up with old friends. Its hard to believe that we barely ever get to see any of our old friends from high school anymore. The older we get, the less time we have to spend with people. Well this is the perfect time to fix this little problem. So call up your old friends, make plans, and hang out while you have the time.

6) Do absolutely nothing. Start by sleeping in until at least 11:30 a.m. and then sit in front of the TV, crack open a beer and a bag of potato chips, and just zone out. Use a recliner to achieve the optimum laziness quotient. If this seems like too much activity for you, then simply lie down on a couch and watch the paint peel on the ceiling. That shouldn’t require too much brain energy.

5) Start an exercise routine. If any of you are like me, you probably are so busy that you do not have time for exercise. Well, this break is a prime opportunity for us to get back in shape and keep our young bodies healthy. Perhaps we may get hooked on an exercise routine that will carry us into the latter half of the semester.

4) Spend time with family. Many of us have not been with our family for quite some time, so it is important for us to spend a little time with loved ones. Some of you may find going home to be an annoying affair, but you’ll only be there for ten days so it’s not so bad.

3) Take a vacation. Pack up some suntan lotion, break out those shorts that you haven’t worn in months, hop in the car and go to a tropical locale like Myrtle Beach or Florida. Nothing beats getting away from the crummy Ohio weather and sitting on a beach sipping Mai Tai’s and enjoying the sun for a change.

2) Catch up on sleep. Most college students get less than six hours of sleep per night. Obviously, most of the time this cannot be helped. We are busy with school, work and extra-curricular activities so six hours is actually pretty good on most evenings. But now we finally have a chance to catch up on all that sleep we’ve been missing out on. Go for 10 to 12 hours every night for the best results.

1) Have fun! No matter what you decide to do, always remember to have fun and enjoy the time you have.