After a recent snow day at Mount Holyoke that caused an extra long weekend, learning to relax during cold New England winters has become a favorite pastime for me and my friends. Here are some suggestions for fellow college students looking for low-key winter activities.

1. Keep Active

Winter is the perfect time to bundle up in lots of layers and head outside for winter sports in the New England mountains. My school offers snow gear such as sleds and snowshoes for rent, but we also saw people use cardboard, cookie sheets and trays, and the tops of storage bins.

2. Contact Your Representatives

What better way to be productive and politically active than to gather some friends, your phones, some cool stationary, and contact your representatives about what matters to you? Hot chocolate and popcorn are never a bad idea.

3. Try Something New

Relax at and visit a place you've never been to before with some friends: a cozy coffee shop, a museum nearby or on campus, a cute local or independent bookstore (for pleasure reading, of course!).

4. Chill Out By Warming Up

Curl up with a good book or Netflix, a mug of something warm, and perhaps even take a nap. After a long week, you deserve it!

5. Do Something Creative

Have a photoshoot in the snow, or avoid it by shooting your own video inside. In the past few weeks of being snowed in, my friends and I have made a Dirty Dancing remake, a music video, a political commentary featuring a lost sock, and stop motion videos.