Spring Break is the most anticipated week in the lives of all college students. It is a week away from responsibilities, schoolwork, jobs, and just the stresses of living in a college town. It’s the perfect break in the spring semester and after this begins the countdown to summer.
Movies glamorize Spring Break, making it out to be the most fun week of your entire life. Even in elementary school, we saw Mary Kate and Ashley Olsen living it up in the Bahamas in their movie “Holiday in the Sun”, if that didn’t make you want to go to Atlantis, I don’t know what will. Recently, “Spring Breakers” made us see some of our favorite wholesome stars turn into trashy and not even entertaining beach bums on a grimy Spring Break trip; it does include James Franco as a Riff-Raff inspired character, which is amusing.
With so much emphasis on Spring Break, it is no surprise that we have these big expectations of what we hope our college break will be like. Here is a timeline of how Spring Break progresses over the course of the school year.
August: We are so excited to be back at school, seeing all of our friends and catching up on everyone’s fab family vacays over the summer. We no longer have to Facebook stalk what people are doing because we live feet away from our best friends. We move into our new apartments and gear up for the coming semester.
September: Football season is upon us. There is not any mention of Spring Break, just people settling into the routine of school, work, club meetings, et cetera.
October: We begin hearing rumblings about Spring Break. The newness of the school year has worn off and tests, projects and papers are due every other day. We begin to fantasize about being on an island somewhere far away from all of the obligations that come with being a college student.
November: We thought October was bad- now it’s cold. November seems to start the slump for many students; Thanksgiving isn’t for three more weeks, and four midterms stand between us and a three-day break. Thinking about being on a boat sailing the Caribbean is so enticing- let the Google search for cruises begin.
December: Ah, we survived finals and get to go home for a little while. There’s nothing like a lot of family time to get you in the mood for a relaxing vacation. In a perfect world, Santa will have left a fabulous spring vacation under the tree. Since this doesn’t happen, it is back to the drawing board for Spring Break plans.
January: Spring semester has arrived! We get the squad together to discuss Spring Break plans. Everyone has ideas- Bahamas! Panama City Beach! Jamaica! When we see the cost of some of these cruises, we lower our expectations- we can handle ratchet for a few days! We find a select few cruises that please everyone’s budgets and some backup plans in our great country- can you say Daytona?! Spring break is happening!
February: The heat is on to officially settle on a Spring Break location. Suddenly, one of our friends realizes how expensive a Spring Break trip really is and bails. Another one decides without the first friend, it’s not worth the time and effort to plan a trip for just a few people. SOS, people, our Spring Break plans are failing miserably.
March: Well, Spring Break is this month. No one was able to choose a Spring Break spot or come up with the money. So alas, we all pack our cars and head back to our hometowns. We have major FOMO looking at the people who, no surprise, planned a phenomenal six-day cruise. We get it, you’re in the Cayman Islands, do you really have to Insta every day you’re there? And just as soon as it got here, we are back to school and wishing we had gotten our lives together sooner to plan our own great Spring Break.
No matter how you choose to spend your Spring Break, it is a great break in the semester to relax and unwind with friends or family. If you are one spending Spring Break at home, I highly recommend “Spring Break Shark Attack” on DVD. Suddenly, you won’t feel like you’re missing out on anything too special.
