Russian students have two holidays a year. I believe that vacations should be a change. Most people like a change of place; if they live in the country they like to go to a big town and spend their time looking at shop windows and visiting movie theatres, museums and art galleries; if they live in a city, they like a quiet vacation in the hills or by the sea, doing nothing but walking, swimming and lying in the sun. On vacation most people don’t like doing things they have to do all the year round.
Students like winter holidays most of all, because we celebrate New Year and Christmas at this time. As New Year approaches, excitement mounts to a pitch. There are presents to be bought, cards to be sent, and rooms to be decorated.
Winter vacation lasts two weeks. There is much snow and it is a good time for to go skiing, skating, sledding, hockey-playing. It’s fun to play (throw) snowballs, make snowmen and build snow huts. During my winter vacation I like to go to the cinema, theatre, visit art galleries, attend musical and concert halls.
Summer vacation is the longest one. Summer is a wonderful season for everyone. It is the hottest season of the year. The weather is always nice and sunny It lasts nearly three months. The holidays begin in the middle of June and are over in August. I have so much free time that I can do a lot of things in summer. I like to go to the river. There’s a lot of fish there, so I sometimes go fishing. I like to sit in silence for a while waiting for a fish to get caught and listening to the birds singing in the trees. When I happen to catch a fish I set it free at once, because I go fishing just for pleasure. I like go to the forest for long walks and gather mushrooms, pick berries and flowers. I can also have a rest in the country where my grandparents live.
Some people think that there are two ways of spending your holidays – active and passive. The passive way means staying in the sun, enjoying doing nothing, and the active way means quite opposite: going boating or hiking, trying yourself in different kinds of water sports… Before this summer I could describe myself as a home-sitter – I usually liked staying at home near the TV set in an armchair than going on a cruise, or hiking. But, after I tried jet-ski and windsurfing this summer I have changed my point of view at the holidays. To enjoy the speed of jet-ski is much more exciting than to take a sunbath!
Very often I go on excursions and travel in summer. We like to visit ancient Russian towns. Sometimes we go to the sea-side. As for me I prefer boat trips. Usually we go to Astrakhan or to St. Petersburg by train and return by boat. The boat drops an anchor at every town on the way to Moscow. We usually go out on the bank, go on an excursion for an hour or two. There are so many interesting small towns on the banks of Russian rivers. We visit the places of interest and have a chance to learn more about the history of this or that town or place. I enjoy such trips very much.
Last summer I was the happiest of all because I spent my holidays at the seaside. I went to Sochi. The weather there was always nice. We swam and bathed a lot in the beautiful sea. I made new friends and we played games on the yellow sand. It was fun! But the whole month passed so quickly. When my grandparents saw me, they were glad that I looked strong, healthy and had a beautiful sunburn.
