It’s easy to get stuck in the mundanity of our everyday routines as UC San Diego students. Thankfully, San Diego offers a plethora of third spaces — any place for rest and relaxation outside of work and home — to break out of this dull cycle with friends and family. Hopefully, one or more of these activities can get you out of your dorm and touching grass. 

Get comfortable with your inner self

Get comfortable with the uncomfortable: going without your phone for an hour! Visit Kate Sessions Memorial Park or Doyle Community Park to touch grass. Set up a cute picnic with your friends’ favorite snacks or relive childhood memories on the swings by yourself. La Jolla Cove’s Museum of Contemporary Art also counts as a third space, and if you’re 25 years old or younger, you get in for free! Break out of Geisel Library and explore the San Diego Central Library to explore your never-ending to-be-read list.

Create something new

Now’s the time to pack your preferred hobby — crocheting or knitting, for example — and head to your third space of choice. Get inspired by your next drawing practice or the public pressure to jumpstart the crochet project you’ve been procrastinating. Not crafty? Junk journaling is an easy beginner hobby that only requires some trash and glue. Either way, you’ll find that being in new environments can really get your creative juices flowing and may pull you out of the creative slump you’ve been in since the beginning of the quarter.

Play around 

While I’m not telling you to haul The Game of Life to an already overpopulated cafe solely for the vibes, keeping card games on you is a convenient way to engage with your chosen third space. Pull out a pack of Uno or We’re Not Really Strangers for a brief study break. Some third spaces, like Arteazen in Renaissance Towne Center and Tea N’ More in Convoy, even provide their own games to experiment with and spark loud debates over unheard rules with your friends, sitcom style! 

Be performative

Is it really performative if you’re actually doing the act? Channel your inner performative student by hogging the corner of your local coffee shop with a book and wired headphones while sipping on a matcha. If anyone gives you a side-eye, revel in the satisfaction that you’re taking a much-needed break from doomscrolling. Besides, it’s not really “performing” if you end up genuinely liking the book you’re reading. 

Is it phone time, or is it friend time?

The last piece of the puzzle is your friends. If you find yourselves lacking the funds to go out for the third time in a week, the activities listed above are curated with your wallet in mind. Going to third spaces with your college friend group provides the chance to disconnect from the internet and reconnect with one another. It’s a great place to maintain friendships, so start a tradition of picking a new third space to visit together. 

San Diego’s local third spaces have given me some relief from the monotony of daily life, both saving me money and protecting my mental headspace. You can do the same by borrowing my list of activities to do at these spaces, all without breaking the bank!