March is upon us, and for college students around the country, the highly anticipated spring break is currently in progress or on our agendas in the next couple of weeks. For most, it is a time to gather with friends at beaches across the coast and indulge in libations until floating away with a high BAC. This may be the stereotype of a trip a college student may take, but as I sit at the beach on my final spring break, my trip has been radically different from what we may think of as a "typical" break.

As a senior who is currently in the midst of receiving emails and notification about graduation in May, I feel melancholic and nostalgic, and those are the themes that headlined my spring break this year.

Traveling to the beach with my family and grandparents, I was more than happy to get away from the party atmosphere of college weekends and take a week to look back on my four years and reflect on what is really important. Family, of course, is priority number one in my book, but for many, this is not always the case. Spring break allows some students to hang out with friends for a week, friends that they will more than likely lose connection with after graduation has come and gone.

Sure there will be the friends that we never seem to quite get rid of, the ones that will be in our weddings, at cookouts, and maybe even future vacations. I know I have a small group that I will be in close connection with long after school is over. Spring break seems to be the breaking point of deciding, "OK, do I really want to be friends with this person for the next 60 years?" It may be that the week at the beach is a way to see how your friends really act, if they help you when you fall and pick you up when you are injured (metaphorically of course.)

So as you are enjoying a week away from projects and papers, drinking a PBR or a Dr. P, just remember that you need to take a moment to reflect on your academic career, and soak in a little bit more than just sunshine.