With final exams lurking right around the corner, Winter break is more appealing than ever. If you’re not heading back to your home country over the break, you might be looking for things to do with your 5 weeks of free time. Look no further, Global Ed has provided some of their favorite winter activities to keep you occupied while you give yourself that mental break that you need.

• Visit New York City! If you haven’t already seen America’s most famous city, or even if you have, go visit. Christmas time in New York is magical. You can ice skate in front of the Rockefeller tree, a giant tree, usually 70-100 ft (21-30 m) tall, that is erected and decorated in midtown Manhattan and kept on display up until January. Rockefeller center has so many fun Christmas activities to do that are fun for all ages. If it’s after the holidays, or you have had enough of Christmas, NYC is also a great city to go and indulge in your guilty pleasures. Whether it’s eating great food, checking out all of the tourist hot spots, or shopping until you drop, NYC has it all.

• A little closer to home is Philadelphia. Philadelphia, much like NYC, is a city filled with opportunity for fun, while staying a little closer to Millersville. If you want to continue to learn even while you’re on break, visit some of the many museums that Philadelphia has to offer. If the thought of ice skating outdoors in NYC sounded fun, but it’s a little too far for you, try the Blue Cross River Rink in Philadelphia! You can rent skates and no one will judge you if you fall down a few times. Philadelphia is another city full of delicious restaurants and cafes, so finding a nice place to eat in between your fun activities won’t be hard.

• Longwood Gardens Christmas Display. Longwood Gardens is a garden made up of over 1,000 acres of land that is open year-round with various displays for people to walk through. During the holidays, from now until January 7, Longwood Gardens has a display called Longwood Christmas. This is where the entire gardens are decorated in beautiful, colorful Christmas lights, inside and out. It takes about 2 hours, but you can walk around the entire garden and see all of the landscapes. There is a student rate of $20 for admission if you buy here!

• Enjoy some winter sports! If you enjoy soccer, take a trip to watch Harrisburg Heat play, Lancaster County’s indoor soccer league! If you love hockey, check out the Hershey Bears, or take a trip to Philly to see our Philadelphia Flyers. If basketball is your favorite, go watch the Philadelphia 76ers play for a relatively cheap price. Even though the weather is getting colder, winter sports are just heating up!

No matter the weather, there are endless activities to keep you busy this winter. If adventuring to NYC is not your thing, go see a movie (all of the best movies come out at the end of the year). If we get lucky and it starts to snow early, go out and build a snowman. One thing is for sure, you definitely won’t be bored this winter, and spring semester will start before you know it.

Is it just me or did 2016 fly by?! It is crazy to think that in less than a month, it will be an entirely new year. If you want to ring in the New Year right, but don’t have plans yet, check out what the staff at Global Ed likes to do on New Year’s Eve!

• Host a party- if you have not heard of anything fun going on, then have the New Year’s party at your place. Check with any roommates first, and if they are okay with it, invite some friends to watch the ball drop at midnight. To make it easier on yourself, have each friend bring some food for the party, so that you do not need to be in charge of providing everything yourself. This is a great way to be with the people you care about as you ring in 2017.

• Go out to a public party – if hosting is your idea of a fun night, don’t worry, there are plenty of places to go on New Year’s Eve. Many restaurants in downtown Lancaster are hosting New Year’s Eve parties open to the public. Check them out here!

• See the Lancaster Fireworks – every year, Lancaster city hosts a NYE party at Blinns Park. Here, they have a free concert, lowering of the Red Rose (much like the ball in Times Square) and fireworks at midnight. Admission is free and more information can be found here.

• Go to Times Square- arguably the most famous spot for NYE, Times Square in New York City hosts an amazing NYE party. Hundreds of thousands of people line the streets of Times Square to watch the ball drop at midnight. While waiting, there is food and live concerts by some of the biggest names in music! However, NYC during NYE is EXTREMELY crowded, so it is not recommended if you do not like crowds. If you’re up for the adventure, it is definitely a once in a lifetime experience.

No matter where you celebrate NYE, the important thing is to bring in 2017 right with friends by your side, looking forward to what these next 365 days have in store for us. Happy New Year!

There is nothing more rewarding than finding the perfect Christmas present for your loved ones. However, on a college budget, this seems almost impossible to do. How do you buy presents for everyone you care about, while still being able to buy yourself groceries or pay rent? Here is a list of just a few ideas that we found for perfect, sentimental gifts, that won’t break your bank.

• A picture frame – choose a picture of you and a friend or family member that has a lot of meaning behind it. Pick a picture of a memory that makes you laugh or smile every time you see it. You can print pictures directly from your phone at the local CVS or RiteAid, or even at the SMC copy shop. Then, head to Walmart or Target and get a nice frame, or better yet, get a wooden frame from a craft store and paint your own design/quote on it. Most standard frames are 8 x 6 inches, so be sure you print the right size photo first, and bring it with you to find the perfect size frame. This present is cheap, easy, and thoughtful.

• Scented candles – everyone loves candles, and candles come in virtually any scent you can think of. Grab a few different scents, maybe some that remind you of Christmas, or some that smell like a beach where you wish you were laying on right now, and put them in a nice gift bag. Candles can also be added to lotions, bubble bath liquids, and body washes in complimenting scents to make a personal spa gift. This is perfect for moms, but also anyone who could use a little ‘me time.’

• Cookbooks – this gift is great for a significant other in your life. Buy a cookbook of any kind, Italian food, American food, healthy eating, anything at all. Go through the cookbook and mark off pages with recipes that you want to make together. These recipes will come in handy for date night, or just for a friend who loves to cook.

• Socks – fuzzy socks are very popular this time of year. No one likes cold feet, especially when it begins to snow, and fuzzy socks are a stylish, yet practical, way to avoid frozen toes. Fuzzy socks are relatively cheap, so you can grab a few pair. Pair them up with a nice fuzzy blanket to make sure your friend/family member never is cold again!

• Food/candy – everyone loves food, so why not make it a present. Grab a nice gift basket from the dollar store or convenience store like CVS, and fill it with your recipient’s favorite food. It is nice to provide a mix of sweets with salty food. For example, grab a variety of their favorite candies like M&Ms or SweetTarts, as well as some of their favorite snacks like popcorn, chips, pretzels, etc. They will know it’s personal because it is all of their favorites, and it is practical because they can eat it all!

Sometimes finding the perfect present can seem impossible, but it just goes to show that you don’t need a lot of money to make someone smile. Just take some time to think about who the person is, and the rest should come easy. Sometimes it helps to think about what YOU would like, because you may be more like your friends than you think. Happy Holidays!

It’s the most wonderful time of the year! Christmas is a joyous time of giving and being thankful for all that is merry in your life. In America, Christmas traditions vary by family, depending on the heritage you come from. However, there are some Christmas traditions that you can find almost any American family participating in.

A few weeks before Christmas, most families will send out Christmas cards. Some contain pictures of the family, others just a nice message and they are sent out to other family members, friends, and loved ones to let them know that you are thinking of them during the Holidays. This tradition was actually started in the United Kingdom but has quickly adapted into an American tradition.

Driving around in America, you will start to notice that some Americans go way overboard in Christmas decorations. Houses are illuminated in colorful lights; blow up Santa’s and reindeer on the lawn, wreaths in every window, and garland all along the trim. It is actually estimated that Americans will spend over $6 billion on Christmas decorations this year! According to a study done last year, Pennsylvania alone uses an average of over 67 million Mega Watts of electricity during the holiday season. To put it in perspective, this is just a little less energy than the entire United Arab Emirates uses in an entire year!

As for Christmas dinner, you will find Americans eating a variety of foods, mostly dependent on their heritage or where they live now. Traditionally, people eat ham or turkey on Christmas day. Some Italian families will eat seafood or lasagna on Christmas day, while people with Mexican backgrounds eat southwestern foods, and people with a Polish heritage will have Kielbasa. Christmas traditions vary from family to family, that is what makes this time of year so wholesome!

To many people, especially those who call the southern hemisphere home, it might seem strange that the American Christmas dream is a white Christmas. This means that it ideally will snow on Christmas day, and you spend the day with family and loved ones inside, by a warm fireplace, or sledding in the backyard. To many countries like Australia and South Africa, Christmas is a summer holiday. For Americans, Christmas is the ultimate winter holiday. In Pennsylvania, it usually snows after Christmas in the months of January and February, but every now and then, we get some snow on Christmas, call it a Christmas miracle!

Although Americans may have some traditions that may seem silly, many of our traditions stem from those started in other countries a long time ago. No matter which country you call home, there’s no better time of the year than Christmas!

Check out some cool Christmas traditions from other countries here!