This week, the Curious ‘Cat asks Villanova students, “When you need a break from studying, what is a good way to refresh your mind or to relieve stress?”

Yeji Seak—“I usually catch up on all the delayed text messages that I need to send back to people. Or I try to stretch a little bit and get some food to refresh my memory and just take a 10-to-15 minute break each time—use the bathroom if I need to … When I’m taking a break I don’t really think about what I just learned; I try to calm myself down and relax a little bit and then go back to studying and focus.”

Wilson Capellan, OSA—“I go to the coffee shop. Just being alone makes my mind refreshed. And then surf the Internet and visit social media—while sipping a cup of coffee.”

Aliyia N Patterson—“I cook—and run, either or—cooking or running. Sometimes when I’m running and we have a paper due next week I’ll be running and thinking about what I’m doing in the paper. Unless a car jumps out in front of me, then my mind is back on running. It’s happened a couple of times. So I like to cook and run.”

Anna Fickenscher—“Sometimes I just take a break and watch stupid reality TV … or mindless Internet entertainment … reading different blogs or reading different articles—just kind of get my mind off of school work with something that requires less thought process.”

Divya Bonagiri—“I’ll watch some comedy movie or comedy film, and I’ll have some refreshment for some time. And then I’ll go back to studies. Or I enjoy doing my hobby. … I get refreshed doing my hobby for some time and then get back to my studies.”

Mervin Woodlin—“I have a family, so I spend time with them. I usually do most of my studying at home; the only reason I’m here is because I just started a summer program. Most of the time when I’m studying and I want to take a break, I spend time with them.”