By Grace Fleming. Homework & Study Tips Expert

Grace has worked with students for many years as an academic advisor and college enrollment counselor. She currently works as a Senior Advisor at a university in Georgia, where she teaches courses to help students improve academic performance, enhance research skills, and expand information literacy.

Are you required to write an essay about your summer vacation or your holiday break? This can be a tough assignment to tackle at first glance. But if you think about it, there are lots of interesting things that happen on your vacation that others might enjoy reading about.

Want some proof? How many Hollywood films have themes about family holidays or trips? Those films are popular because they enable us to glimpse inside the crazy family lives of others.

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And, in case you haven’;t noticed yet, nearly every family is crazy in some way.

Now, you don’;t need to divulge any deep family secrets while writing your holiday essay. What you can do is take a closer look at your experience from an outsider’;s point of view and try to determine how it might be interesting to others.

Remember the movie called A Christmas Story? The boy in that film received a big furry, pink pajama costume for Christmas from his out-of-touch but loving aunt. Has something like this ever happened to you?

Do you have a gift-giving, well-meaning, aunt or uncle who just doesn’;t seem to live on the same planet as you?

During your summer vacation, you probably visit other towns in faraway places from time to time. Next time, think about how your experience was different from the experience of other travelers in the past.

What was it like for travelers who visited Indianapolis in a horse drawn carriage? Or for folks who visited Atlanta before air conditioning was invented?

Remember that you don’;t have to write a day-by-day overview of your activities (unless your teacher says so).

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You can use your imagination a little and put an interesting spin on your essay.

Tips For Your Holiday Essay

Your first step in writing your essay is to jot down four or five things about your experience. Was there a special town involved? Was it unusually cold there, or did you experience any unusual weather? Was there anybody special who made the experience more interesting (which could mean miserable).

Consider these topics:

• Why I’;ll Never Go Back to (insert place name)
• How (insert name) Drove Me Crazy in Five Days
• Traveling to (insert city) Then and Now
• The Hazards of Traveling With a (person or thing)
• Why You Shouldn’;t Take a Dog to (insert place)
• I Left New York But My (lost item) Stayed
• Why I Couldn’;t Sleep in (place name)

As you can tell by this list, there are many possibilities when it comes to writing a vacation essay. Use your imagination and think of a certain person, place, or thing that made your experience special. Then you can build an essay around that topic.

How to Choose an Essay Topic When Your Mind Starts Out Blank