The 3 Ways to Level-Up Your Summer Experience
How retro games can show you how to get ahead in your career
Old video games can show you how to have a better summer. Especially if you want to have more fun. It turns out Pac-Man was more profound than he looked.
Yep. Retro button pressin’ will teach you some powerful life lessons. Let’s a-go.
1. Take Shortcuts
Most people want to skip the annoying underwater level in any game and move on straight to the fun parts.
Without preparation, post-graduation can be like the water level of life. But you can skip this stage if you’re clever.
Get valuable work experience in the summer time. Whether you teach English abroad or go for an internship, it’s a sure way to speed everything up. And there are plenty of resources around the net you can use to keep on top of the opportunities:
- AIESEC UK – internships for students and recent graduates
- IAESTE UK – internships for science, engineering and applied arts students
- i-to-i – a range of travel volunteering opportunities
- TEFL.com – teaching English as a foreign language
- Voluntary Service Overseas (VSO) – opportunities for volunteering overseas
The experience you gain from these might cost you a little, but it will help you to get into that job a lot faster.
2. Play the Spin Off
Everyone knows about Super Mario, but what about Super Luigi? It’s was a long time until the green hatted brother got his own game, but Nintendo eventually made Luigi’s Mansion. Giving more depth to all of the characters in the game.
So why not spin off your university experience, and go study abroad?
You’ll get valuable cultural experience, you’ll see how things work at another university, and you’ll come back home with a lot more understanding of your course.
Your university will probably have a study abroad program, and advisors will be able to help you out. If you’re struggling to figure out what that might look like, have a peek at the summer abroad page for the University of Edinburgh.
Your University will probably have something similar. If you’ve missed out on the chance to register this year, and you’re a returning student next year, then you’ll have the chance to sign up for this opportunity soon.
Also check out the British Council site for more info on:
- Erasmus+ Study abroad
- Study USA
- Study India
3. Increase Lives
Pac-Man. If he picks enough disks as he goes around the maze, he gets an extra life. Lives give you the chance to play for longer.
Likewise, if you’re going abroad this summer, picking up some extra money is a great way to increase your travel time.
Lucky for you, there are a few ways to get paid while you’re aboard:
- Summer Camps – In the USA in particular
- Holiday Rep – With the big players like Thompson
- Au Pair – Or a nanny for parents abroad
- Bars – Not guaranteed, but possible in destinations like Ibiza
- WWoof – Work on organic farms
- And more
What’s grand is this: You get the chance to see other countries and the additional money fuels your adventure for a little longer. You don’t run out of lives.
As Pac-Man put it: “woo-woo-woo-woo wap-wap”
Game over – continue?
Well that’s it for our silly video gaming and holiday analogies. We’ve seen a bunch of ways you can think about your summer experience, and we’ve shown how you can use that experience to level up.
Want more fun? Check out our blog.