College senior Lisa Freese answers the phone behind the customer service desk at Cashwise Foods.

At Oak Park Mall, sisters Danielle and Elizabeth Iverson, of Louisiana, eat ice cream from waffle cones with their family.

Downtown at the Austin Public Library, Neveln fourth grader Abel Salazar waits patiently for his sisters to let him use the computer.

Students of all ages are nearing the end of their holiday break. Some are back from college to work part time and younger students are spending time with their families or playing with new toys. Teens are meeting up with friends at the mall or working on school projects. Some will travel out of town.

Most are glad for the break, although a few are impatient for school to begin again.

Freese, a fourth-year student at Minnesota State University at Mankato, has been working at Cashwise for six years. She has been out of school for three weeks and will head back to Mankato the second week of January.

In the meantime she works 24 to 30 hours a week and hangs out with friends.

She is spending the break working "just to make some extra cash to pay some bills and to come back and see everybody I work with."

Carmen May, a student at Rochester Community and Technical College, is "working as much as I possibly can" at Perkins Family Restaurant before she and her boyfriend take a vacation to Fort Lauderdale, Fla., in January.

"I need a break from school," May said.

Her co-worker, Megan Fate, agrees, but hints she's a little jealous May gets to travel.

"I don't have a such an exciting life as Carmen," she said, teasingly.

Fate is earning money for tuition at Riverland Community College, where she will resume classes Jan. 8.

Elementary-age students spent part of the break at the No School Activity Days at the YMCA. The days were Dec. 23, 26, 27 and 30. The 13-year-old program provides activities for students from 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. and costs $16 a day for one child. Each additional child is $11.

Abby Christianson, a third-grader at St. Augustine's, enjoys swimming and running on the track the most. She and her 6-year-old brother Alex participated in all four activity days.

Kirstin Vosburgh also spent the week at the Y while her parents are at work.

The Southland Elementary sixth grader has met new friends and enjoyed swimming.

"It's just kind of fun," she said.

Some students are in Austin visiting family.

The Iverson sisters spent the day after Christmas at the mall. Danielle and Elizabeth live in Spring Hill, La., but are visiting their father, stepmother, step-siblings and grandmother.

They and their step-siblings Tony and Ashley Jax, of Hayfield, plan to see a movie, go ice skating and use the Target gift cards they got for Christmas over break.

Ashley, a ninth grader at Hayfield High School, has two basketball games this week, but she and her brother do not start school again until Jan. 6.

When asked if they would rather be in school, Elizabeth, a first grader, stops a spoonful of ice cream just short of her mouth and said simply, "no."

"I just like spending time with my family," she said.

Her siblings giggle and agree they like the time with their family and to sleep in.

Siblings Laura and Benjamin Paparella also said they like sleeping in, but school is not completely off their minds. They both have to write papers.

The teenagers, of Oakdale, came to in Austin Thursday to visit their grandparents, but after only two hours in town they were at Austin Public Library to do homework.

Laura, an 11th grader at Tartan High School, was working on a paper comparing courtship in the 1930s to today. Her brother, an eighth grader, was writing a paper on Beethoven and Mozart.

The teens return to school Jan. 2 and said their vacation is going fast.

"When you're away from home, it goes a lot faster," Laura said.

For some, like Abel Salazar, vacation can't go fast enough.

"I want to go to school, but it's sort of fun not going, too," said the fourth grader while sitting at a table in the library.

He has been playing a new Playstation game, but admits being at home is kind of boring.

"There's not much to do on break," he said.

His mother, Carolina Salazar, joins him at the table and explains that she brought her children to the library to get them out of the house. They also will visit the mall and go for a walk. She suggests to Abel that the weather's nice enough for him to ride his bike.

"We don't want to stay all day in the house," Carolina said.

Abel also returns to class Jan. 2.

"I can't wait," he said.

Cari Quam can be reached at 434-2235 or by e-mail at cari.quam@austindailyherald.com