How do HBS students spend their holidays? The answer is telling as to the kind of remarkable people that are here.
1. Travel around the world - There are dozens of trips both officially organized by HBS and unofficially organized by students that go to every corner of the world. The official trips are called IXPs (Immersion Experience Program), and are mostly opportunities to see business in a foreign economy with a little bit of tourism on the side. The unofficial trips are called "treks" and are the reverse; mostly tourism with a little bit of business exposure. Both go to mainstream places like China, India, UAE, etc. and can get as exotic as you wish. My sectionmates are in Chile, Hungary, Ethiopia, Nepal, Argentina, Sweden, Australia, and everywhere you can imagine. There are also treks to Silicon Valley and other US destinations.
2. Climb Mountains - I don't know how many students in my class have climbed Mount Kilimanjaro or the mountains of Patagonia, but it is a ridiculously high percentage. Many students flock to these challanges over the winter holidays, sometimes making the ascent for the second time in their life. Climbing the tallest peaks in the world is a blatant metaphor for how most HBS students think of their overall journey through life. I actually find that rather inspirational.
3. Shadow internship program - The holidays are too short for a full blown internship program, but some students take the opportunity to shadow a professional in a field they are very unfamiliar with, but are very interested in. Examples are working with a real estate development guru, a candidate for the US Senate, and a business leader in a professional sports team. This use of time is great for those who are trying to either A) learn more about fields that they have little experience with and want to get into, or are B) just curious about but don't want to spend the whole summer doing a full internship.
4. Take classes - HBS offers intensive one week seminars for students who wish to remain local. These seminars are taught by the preeminent leaders of their fields and are a great way to network with other people who are intensely focused on a particular subject.
To round things out, some students try to take it easy and spend some time catching up with family, work on a personal business, travel locally, or do a combination of any of the above.
The common theme is that everybody recognizes this time off from school to be a great opportunity to learn more about themselves and the world, and we are all very grateful to have this moment.
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