When I woke up on the second day of the Rosh Hashanah break, my floor was deserted except for two other individuals. The majority of my friends had gone back home, but considering that I live over 200 miles away, I was unable to do the same.I left my dorm and began to head down the main path toward the Shapiro Campus Center. As I glanced around, I noticed that the premises were desolate, the buildings were vacant, and not one person was in sight. I could hear the sound of my footsteps echo as a strong wind pushed against my back.

Eerie scenes like this one are typical of a holiday weekend here at Brandeis. Some people might enjoy the peace and quiet of such a scenario. Adam Cohen '12, for example, decided to come to Brandeis expecting it not to be a busy place, and he is very content with his choice of college. But I prefer otherwise. Although student life doesn't necessarily have to be bustling and vibrant on days like these, there ought to be at least some activities happening on campus aside from the holiday celebrations themselves.

This problem is made particularly prominent by the sheer abundance of religious celebrations we observe -- everything from Yom Kippur to Sukkot to Shimini Atzeret equates to one or more days off. As a Jew, I certainly respect such traditions, but I must admit that after services, the rest of these days can be pretty dull. Liana Krajnak '12, who was on campus during one of these breaks, agrees, noting that this period of time was "uninteresting and uneventful." Additionally, non-Jews may feel alienated and left out of what's happening.

In these situations, the Student Union, quad councils and other organizations should try to relieve us of our boredom and give us an incentive to stay on campus by coordinating socials and parties. We shouldn't feel compelled to go back home; rather, we should work to make Brandeis a consistently exciting place.

Don't get me wrong, though -- I'm prone to being a slacker, and I certainly don't mind having an extra vacation when I can just wake up at 2 in the afternoon and relax. But the prolonged duration of holiday breaks, combined with the fact that a considerable chunk of students would presumably be absent from University grounds, wears on me.

If no effort is made to enliven our campus, then I think one of our long-term efforts should be to make transportation to get back home a little easier. I realize the constraints of our school's budget, especially with the current state of the economy. However, once we regain our financial bearings, perhaps we should pursue this initiative:

On the day that classes end right before a vacation, book the shuttle buses that normally take us to Cambridge and Boston and redirect them toward South Station and/or Logan Airport. I took a flight back home from Logan over Yom Kippur break. In order to get to the airport, I had to take the commuter rail, transfer to the red line at Porter Square and transfer to the silver line at South Station. A bus system would replace this onerous process, as well as the risk of a train coming late, and would save me and others $7 and a lot of time.

Although these are relatively minor complaints, an added event on a holiday can help turn a dead campus into a lively one, while a change in our transportation system could lift an unnecessary burden off the shoulders of those students who choose to go home anyway.