As a college student, my free time is sacred. Without time to decompress, reflect on my day, and embrace the introvert that lies deep with me, I wouldn’t be able to perform my best every day. That said, I’ve recently enjoyed using my free time not only to veg out and binge watch Big Mouth, but to empower and educate myself through the world of podcasts. Here’s a short list of favorites that make my downtime feel both fulfilling and productive.
1) News in Slow Spanish (as well as French, German, Japanese, and many other languages)
Sometimes, applying a language only in the classroom can leave you feeling detached from the real purpose of learning: to communicate and connect with the larger global community. News in Slow ____, available at the intermediate and advanced levels, allows you to practice your listening skills while learning about international current events from a new perspective.
2) Bad With Money, With Gaby Dunn
With less than a year left here at Skidmore, I’m beginning to face the reality of conceptualizing my own budget and spending and coming to understand the value of being financially-independent as a young, single woman. While that won’t happen overnight, Gaby Dunn tackles some of the sensitivity and taboos that surround talking about money, especially as a millennial. She makes the inaccessible accessible, and makes the daunting seem a little less impossible.
3) NPR’s Invisibilia
This podcast never fails to blow my mind. Each episode takes a deep look into an aspect of human behavior, using long-form storytelling to make brain science understandable and exciting to the humanities major. Some of my favorite episodes concern the nature of emotions, trauma, and personality traits.
4) Risk! True Tales Boldly Told
It’s like the Moth, but rawer and raunchier. Each episode features three storytellers, unified by a general theme, who share a moment of epiphany, realization, or defining growth. These aren’t always stories of success though; they are often tales of intense humiliation, guilt, devastation, or intense, selfish pleasure. I always finish an episode feeling a wonderful combination of uncomfortable and understood.