Summer Bucket List FN7.2

When more than 90% of the responding freshers of our very short survey suggested that they hadn’t planned anything for the unexpected summer vacations that have dawned upon us, we took charge. Modified to suit these tough quarantine days, this Summer Bucket List is unique in its very own way and we hope you like it! It has two parts to it: Constructive Summer Plans and Chill Summer Plans, well much like our own summer plans…

CONSTRUCTIVE SUMMER IDEAS

Exploring Entrepreneurship:

Entrepreneurship is one of the most exciting aspects of the era. It is time to bring in your ideas and improvise on them. If you have a business idea, you most certainly must brainstorm and nurture it; while also planning for future challenges, market demands, and struggles. Inexperienced individuals often regarding many aspects of entrepreneurship. It would be a good practice to keep up with business newspapers, magazines, and Ted Talks by great entrepreneurs themselves.

Along with these, one can surely take a look at these web series for some feel and inspiration, namely: Pitchers by TVF, Startup by Sony Crackle, and some reality shows, namely: How I made my Millions, The Profit,  Shark Tank, etc. Besides, some books like Zero to One, The Startup Owner’s Manual, The Lean Startup; will also help one develop their ideology and vision regarding startups. Though entrepreneurship is a very subjective field with no fixed rules to play, these practices will surely give you more insight and stimulate the entrepreneur inside you.

Doing Online Courses:

Quarantine and lockdown have enlightened us with the salient aspects and features of self – learning and work from home. Since first year summers are a good opportunity to learn a certain field or discipline, one could say anything but no to online courses. So here’s a list of some websites you must check out for some cool online courses and content:

1. Coding enthusiasts must check out the code.inQuarantine(); weekly tutorials by WnCC if you have not started already. GeeksForGeeks and Stack Exchange have many examples to practice from.
2. British Council, Alison, and Coursera offer Online English Courses. You can also find many YouTube channels for the same.
3. Explore MIT OCW for syllabus related courses or future courses
4. One may also try out Stock Trading. To get a background, you can do certain courses on Coursera, Udemy etc.
5. edX, Coursera and Udemy have a multitude of courses covering vast varieties of topics, be it Sciences, Finance or Humanities. Certain institutions, like Harvard University, are offering free online courses and one can easily access those from the official site.

Freelancing Options: 

Being from IIT Bombay is undoubtedly a matter of prestige-Society considers us to be very knowledgeable and resourceful. Owing to this, we have the upper edge of easily finding mentees and students when it comes to sharing our knowledge in any aspect. One could teach other students artistic skills such as drawing, sketching, painting, singing, musical instruments, etc. You can undertake a freelance project teaching students how to build something. Also, you could plan to teach young children C++/Python/Java coding, even Arduino. There are some cool options to check out, like Landscaping, Blogging, Answering questions on Quora, etc. Avid writers could consider writing articles for a magazine or newspapers. Photoshop experts can take editing assignments from  Image Publishing Websites. One could approach companies for coding assignments as well.  And yes, you can most certainly take doubts classes for students who are currently preparing for JEE and help them out.

Taking up projects with professors

This is an excellent opportunity to try your hand at research while also working on something productive during the summers. How to go about this? Generally, you start by figuring out a field or topic that intrigues you or the one you want to explore. Then you search for the professor whose field of work aligns with your interest or the professor you think you would like working with. Try contacting the professor through email. Tell them about your interests and why you’re keen on taking up the project. Also send them reminder mails if you do not get a response at once, which is very likely to happen :P. Then, the professor might have an online meet to discuss this or he may give you some assignment/project straightway.

Engaging in online discussions 

With most of the world now being online and discussion groups forming everywhere, these platforms might provide a new experience for many of us. Online discussion groups like the ‘Curious Community’ of IIT Bombay, online ‘Chai and Why’ sessions conducted by TIFR, and online seminars and courses such as those conducted by the Finance Club provide unique opportunities to engage with other like-minded people and broaden your perspective too. Even the Career Cell, which conducts Technical and Non-technical summer school every year, is looking at ways to conduct it on an online platform this year – look out for that as well!

CHILL SUMMER IDEAS

Exercises: 

Quarantine has made gym visits impossible for everyone. Here are some professionally recommended  at-home easy exercises which you can try:

• Squats. Perform 20-25 squats with a moderately heavy suitcase (filled with clothes or newspapers) on your shoulders. Also, you could use them as dumbbells and perform 10-15 sets each. 
• Modified Sissy squat. Try a modified version of the sissy squat as in the image for a minimum of 3 minutes and perform 5-10 squats depending on your agility. Take care your legs do not go numb performing these.

• Vajrasana. Get yourself comfortable in the Vajrasana position. Then stretch yourself forward such that your forehead touches the ground and your hands go as far as they can. 
• Push-ups and Suryanamaskar.   
• Pranayam  Practices such as Anuloma-Viloma.
• Steam inhalation is also highly recommended 2-3 times a week (before breakfast and before bed) for 10-15 minutes each.

Practice self-care at home 

During this coronavirus outbreak, most of us are confined within our homes. This also gives an excellent opportunity to relax and do something creative too. 

1. For people who hardly care about the cleanliness of their rooms, a very small start can be focusing on keeping your rooms and the house clean too.
2.  ‘Scrap-booking’ is really a fun way to utilize this time.
3.  ‘Meditation’ is an elegant way of improving your efficiency by increasing your concentration. Early morning meditation, along with exercises are beneficial.
4.  It is not necessary to do productive things all the time. A person can enjoy their time playing indoor games such as cards etc. and spending time with family. 
5. Maintaining a ‘Quarantine diary’ can be an interesting thing to do at home to work on yourself. 

Relax. Stay happy. Stay healthy:)

Explore the artist in yourself 

It is said that ‘ Art develops and grows better in a nonchalant environment where it can spread its wings freely.’ This summer undoubtedly gives all the artists the time to discover new things and develop their artistic abilities.

One can learn a musical instrument at home through online tutorials and practice it well enough since we have free time. ‘Cult-connect’ provides an opportunity for such compositions and poems to come forward on a social platform. Apart from music, one can also develop their sketching in this period. A dance enthusiast can try choreographing a dance at home only. People having an interest in sculpting can try this thing known as ‘Papier-mâché sculptures’.    

ICSP: 

It’s an opportunity to hone your skills in the domains of music, photography, dramatics, fine arts and Classic & Folk Arts; where you get to learn from the experts in the field. You would be taking a project under their guidance and you might have to collaborate with your peers for it. Overall, it will be a fun and productive use of time where you would eventually learn creative and cool;) skills like comic-making, song-writing etc.

Books

In the busy schedule of institute life, one seldom finds time to sit down and admire the work of their favorite writers, but quarantine has got us rushing to them. To all the newbies who might just wanna pick a book out of boredom or the worms that are looking for fresh pages to hog on, you’ve come to the right place. For starters, you can read some interesting classics like ‘The Great Gatsby’ or ‘The Alchemist’. A few romantic classics include ‘Pride and Prejudice’ and ‘The Notebook’. A few novels that will take you to the thrill ride can be The ‘Da Vinci Code’ (and a lot of others by Dan Brown, he won’t disappoint), ‘Eye of the Needle’, and ‘The Girl on the Train’!

One of the great pieces on historical fiction is ‘Only Time Will Tell’ and the entire series by Jeffrey Archer. ‘The perks of being a Wallflower’ and ‘The fault in our Stars’ are famous novels already converted into movies, but if you still missed out on them, now is your time! ‘The Kite Runner’ and ‘A Thousand Splendid Suns’ by Khaled Hosseini are sure to touch your heart and inspire you as they have to a million others. To set you into the introspection and enlightenment mode, ‘’Ikigai’ and ‘Many lives, Many masters’ would be good suggestions. ‘Becoming’ by Michelle Obama and ‘Steve Jobs’ by Walter Isaacson are some really motivational and interesting books.

Movies 

What has really got us going through the boredom is Cinema and here’s a list to help you fight your own battle with quarantine and enjoy some wonderful movies 

TV Series:

Netflix and chill! Now that we have a multitude of streaming services at our fingertips, the content has become even richer and more diverse. It’s impossible to remain quarantined without some entertainment.

If you’re on the hunt for a new show to dive into, we have put together a handy list of shows to binge-watch. Just don’t forget to eat and sleep while you marathon these shows as they will keep you clicking episode after episode!

Happy binging!

MISCELLANEOUS SUMMER PLANS

While certain options seem very obvious to almost everyone, these options are under the veil of secrets in many circumstances. One could certainly blog during the Quarantine Season and publish meaningful content. Also, one could also vlog to teach some musical instruments. Some other options not everyone considers, are taking part in activities like Creative Writing, which, unlike some skepticize as the art of using jargon, is a wonderful art that one could pursue. One could take up a mini-course in some less known areas such as Journalism, Entrepreneurship and Management, etc. One could also spend time learning some software like Audacity, Lightroom, etc. which forms a skill base.  You could also do some personal skills honing like learning driving, or basic gardening, or wall painting, etc. There is undoubtedly a varied scheme of options one could choose from, and one must once try something atypical. It’s an unforeseen pleasure, and you would not regret the experience.

Working on your soft skills: 

Soft Skills form an essential base for any individual who wishes to make it big in the corporate sector. Whilst some soft skills are ingrained in us owing to our experiences, some need effort. So here are some soft skills which you could boost during these summers: 

1. Communication and Public Speaking Skills: Refer to alison.com and skillsyouneed.com
2. Work Ethics and Public Decency: edx.org
3. Time Management: Practice it in day to day life
4. Teamwork:  https://tll.mit.edu/help/teaching-teamwork  
5. Decision Making: edx.org
6. Interpersonal Skills: swayam.gov.in 
7. Leadership Skills:  swayam.gov.in 

Also on an alternative note, try doing some social work these summers; they do a great job boosting our soft skills. 

Extra Gyaan – How first-year summers is different from the summers to follow

According to a few seniors, the first year summers are the best time to relax and learn some new things at the same time. Most of the list that we have created also contains things that can only be best done after your first year – things like trying your hand at ITSP, reading this freshie newsletter, or taking part in summer schools. You can even have a summer where you can relax completely without the tension of getting admission into your dream college anymore, and this is the best part most seniors found about their first year summers. Come second and third year summers, most people tend to focus more on developing skills based on their areas of interest – be it core or non-core. These summers are typically spent doing internships to gain good exposure to the corporate world or exposure to brilliant research facilities in some foreign universities too. Hence, we feel that the first year summers are a golden opportunity to relax, gather yourself, and prepare yourself for the future!