Ahh summer. The much awaited summer vacation where the sun is out and so are the swimsuits and sunscreen. If you're in school, many of your friends are probably doing cool things like traveling to exotic places, or getting a dream internship. But sadly, not all of us are lucky enough to do or get what we want. If you currently have nothing to do right now, you have come to the right place. Here's a list of how you can make the most out of this valuable free-time (besides binging on Netflix):

1. Volunteer: It's time to build up that resume, and at no cost. Most of the time, volunteering doesn't require anything but your valuable time. And it's easy to find places to volunteer! A quick search on your favorite search engine should allow you plenty of information of places that need help in your community. Who knows? Maybe you will get so much out of this experience that more opportunities might open up.
1. Ideas to volunteer: A local community garden, food bank, library, hospital, etc
2. Job Shadow Professionals: Have a certain career that you're interested in? Then spend this time shadowing professionals. This is the best way to know for sure that this is the career you are interested in. To start shadowing, simply search online for professionals in your area, call their office, and ask if you can job shadow. Many will decline, but there are also many people out there who will love to help out.
3. Go Hiking: Get in touch with nature while it still exists. Go on a group hiking trip with your friends, take pictures, breathe fresh air!
4. Learn How To Code: In an age that is almost everything digital, learning how to code will make your life so much easier. You don't even have to be a computer science major, just learning for fun will make difficult tasks on the computer (like organizing large amounts of data) much more manageable. Nobel Prize-winning scientists and even the President encourage everyone to learn coding!
1. How to start learning: I learned online by going to codecademy. It is super easy to learn on this site and they will walk you through the lessons every step of the way. Javascript is a popular language to learn btw.
5. Have a Photoshoot: If you have a DSLR, take this time to play with it and learn how to take stunning photos. If not, that's okay. Smartphones nowadays have amazing camera quality, and you can still have an impromptu photoshoot with your friends! Best of all, editing the photos is super easy on the smartphone with tons of editing apps to chose from. Personally, I enjoy VSco and Afterlight the best.
6. Cook or Bake New Recipes: Trying new recipes can be fun and it'll be beneficial for your future so that you can cook for your family. Ask a family member to teach you or look online. Pinterest is a great place to start!
7. Practice New Makeup Looks: Practice makes perfect. Perfect that smokey eye or experiment with bolder brighter colors this summer. Youtube is my best friend when it comes to makeup tutorials.
8. Let Out Your Inner Creativity: Draw, paint, do some DIYs. This is my personal favorite thing to do during the summer because I don't make these a priority during school.
9. Search for Scholarships: Scholarships are still out there! It is never too late (or too early) to apply.
10. Take an Online Class: There are lots of online classes that are affordable. This is a great time to take a class that has always interested you but you don't have room to include it in your school schedule.