Around this time every year, I start to hear all of my friends talking about the warm, tropical vacations they are taking for spring break, and every year I tell all of my friends about my plans to work, sleep and watch Netflix for seven days in a row. The catch is neither one of those is better than the other.
For many students and faculty, spring break is a chance to take a vacation, go to the beach and have fun, but others use this time to catch up on sleep and relax before the start of the second half of the semester. Normally, this is the route I choose to go but not this year.
It is my senior year, and I can say I have never been on a typical college-student spring break trip. By “typical” I just mean trips with friends to the beach or other popular destinations.
Instead of these trips, I normally hang out at home, sleep in and maybe put in a few extra hours at work. This is something that I get lectured about every year by my friends who decide to travel for spring break.
My friends say I should be out traveling the world, visiting new places and having fun, but to me, staying at home for spring break and relaxing is fun. The best part is that I get to stay in Bloomington, which is all but a ghost town during break. This means no lines at Target, fast grocery store trips, 30-minute food deliveries and a lot less traffic. It’s great.
However, in honor of my senior year, I decided to see what all the commotion was about and take a vacation to do some traveling for my last spring break.
Since I decided to take the vacation, the other half of my friends that normally stay in town for spring break have been lecturing me on my decision to go somewhere. They make some valid arguments, like the fact that I am as broke as broke gets, but that’s beside the point.
The point is that they are choosing to spend spring break one way and my other friends are choosing another. For some reason, each side seems to think their way of spending break is better or their reasons more valid than the others. Quick announcement: There is no right or wrong way to spend a break if you’re spending it the way that you want to spend it.
So whether you decide to pull out the old swimsuit and hit the beach or you want to start planning out your Grey’s Anatomy binge schedule, the most important thing to remember is to come back rested, relaxed and ready to kick butt in the second eight weeks.
kkmeier@umail.iu.edu
