You wake up from your sleep only to find that it is way past lunchtime and that the school cafeteria is already closed. You throw on whatever you can find and head out to the school store, returning to your room with stacks of microwavable curry and rice. After the meal, you decide to surf the Internet, and by the time you get your eyes off the computer screen, it will be dinnertime and your weekend is over. Perhaps this is not the best way of spending your weekend. You might complain that there is not much you can do here at KAIST, but you can make your weekend as delightful as possible if you choose to.

We live in a busy world and KAIST students are always bombarded with such a heavy load of school work that they do not have much time for exercise. So why not try it during the weekends? We all know that a healthy body leads to a healthy mind. Start your day by engaging in a fun and healthy aerobic exercise of swimming at the school’s swimming pool. Located near the school’s Auditorium, the swimming pool is open to all students. The opening hours are from 8 a.m. to 9 p.m. from Mondays to Fridays, and from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Saturdays. It is closed on Sundays.

To satiate your hunger after swimming, you might choose to grab something to eat at the school cafeteria. Perhaps you could buy some kimbap and have a picnic at the small park near the Department of Humanities and Social Sciences building. It may be too cold to enjoy the picnic now, but when spring is near, you will find that enjoying the breeze out in the sun is one of the best feelings. During the Strawberry Festival, you can even hang out with your friends or fellow club members while having strawberries and other snacks on the field.

After that, you might want to catch up on your school work. Instead of studying at the KAIST Branch Library, with its stale, moldy smell, how about studying near the bench outside Coffee Bean at the International Building? That way you can study surrounded by the green grass and trees.

It may also be a good idea to ride your bicycle around to explore the school campus. KAIST is quite large and you normally don’t get to visit all the places due to the fixed schedules. So if the weather permits, try to ride a bicycle around campus to get a better understanding of the place. Even if you don’t have a bicycle, you can easily borrow one from the Tashu bicycle stands. These bicycles are not limited to riding within the campus, but you can also take them outside and cycle around Daejeon as the Tashu bike stands are located throughout the city.

In the evening you might want to watch some movies, but going to the movie theater outside school can be costly and time consuming. On Saturdays at 10 p.m., Mashil Theater in Dasom- and Heemang-Gwan plays some of the new and old films. Funded by the school’s welfare team, the theater also provides small snacks and drinks for free. If you would like to try something new, you can even visit the Global Lounge at the International Center. The place is equipped with satellite TVs that show programs from 20 different countries, 24 hours a day. Also, the place has several computers for people to use.

Keep yourself informed about the performances of various school clubs. Many of the clubs such as Infinite, KAIST Orchestra, Ghuttos, Illusion, Lunatic, Eun-mak, Mind Freak and Muse hold their concerts or performances on weekends. This is a good opportunity to know more about the student clubs at KAIST and you never know; you might want to join one of them after seeing their performance.

Though many of us complain about the boredom of living on campus, we can still have an enjoyable time here by paying more attention to our surroundings. Instead of spending your weekend stuck in your dorm room, why not go out, get some fresh air and enjoy life at KAIST? As they say, life is too short and our time at KAIST will pass very soon. We might as well make the most of it while we are here.