Summer holidays in academia

A post about summer holidays in December? Why, Eva, why?

Well – I ran a poll about summer holidays a while back and I schedule posts months ahead of time, so that’s why this post is here.
but let’s take a moment – Christmas and the winter holidays are coming up. Are you going to be stressing over your thesis while you are with your family? Are you going to stay on campus and try to keep working (but feel lonely and watch too much Netflix?), or are you giving yourself time and space to celebrate and be with your loved ones?

I was surprised and not surprised at the same time by the results of this poll about holidays. Where I know people who completely disconnect from work and spend 6 weeks camping out next to a lake in Italy or close to a Spanish beach, it seems impossible for me (in terms of time and cost). But, I thought the vast majority of people would take about 2 weeks off. I’m surprised to see that only roughly 50% of respondents are taking 1 week or more of holidays, and that 19% are not taking any holidays at all.

Here are the results of the poll and its wake: