I understand what you are saying about homework. During winter break I didn't notice the lack of it so much because I was so busy with other stuff, but my first week or two back I was totally lost. I was so used to feeling behind in my work that when I wasn't I didn't know what to do. I still had that high adrenaline/panicky procrastinator feeling going on, but with nothing super important to do. It was somewhat surreal. As for the politics, it is overwhelming. You are totally bombarded with it from all forms of media. And even if you are interested in politics, it gets to be too much. It seems like it has been all that my friends and I have talked about, and every politician's stance is totally ludicrous in some way. You don't REALLY believe any of them, and it is just deciding on the lesser of the evils. Which for me is usually Independent or Green and then I feel like I am just not voting at all (at least in presidential elections). My advice, try not to listen too closely at what they are all saying until it is time for you to decide who to vote for. Then do some research. It saves on the confusion and upset listening to it all every day. It doesn't really solve the problem of how ludicrous some of the stuff you hear can be, but at least you don't hear it nonstop.