Oh, snow. How I love attempting to snowboard, snow pants and snow angels — until March rolls around and it's still icy and wet and cold. Then I start dreaming of beaches and margaritas and the ocean … mmm, spring break. Why does it feel so wonderful to know you can lie on a beach for an entire week? Oh — because a week without the Internet, e-mails, homework and exams (and snow) is wonderful. You can spend as much time sleeping, as much time drinking and as much time tanning as you would like.
The weeks before spring break are usually hellish, though: two exams on one day, a project due the day before your flight leaves and a paper due the day you get back. Crap, I need to buy a bathing suit … maybe I should work out again at the SERF with all the other spring breakers … I need to make a bikini waxing appointment … let's go tanning (I know you boys are doing it) … do we even know when our flight is leaving? … wait a minute, I have no money! Ugh!
And then there is the question of (cue scary music): boyfriends and girlfriends. The speculations are rising: are you going to cheat on me? Will a week with all your single roommates make you feel like you are missing out? Are you going to make out with all these spring break hoes and then dump me the day you get back? Is some slut going to seduce you and then you'll be drunk and then you'll think about that saying “Whatever happens in Mexico stays in Mexico,” and then I'll be pissed and you'll say it's not your fault and then … yikes.
If people are stressed out before they leave, what happens when they get there? Madness. But what exactly is it about spring break that makes people so crazy? Is it the combination of beach, ocean and alcohol? Is it the mix of the sun, music and a video camera? The college lifestyle — especially at our very own No. 1 party school — can get pretty crazy, and if you move the Mifflin Street Block Party to Jamaica, it's definitely going to get a bit crazier. But what about the colleges on the warm, coastal cities? It can't be like spring break all the time — can it?
Maybe it's just plain old stress-releasing that leads to spring-break madness … or maybe it's just the water. But maybe we shouldn't limit our spring breaks to hook-ups, detox and wet T-shirt contests — because, as we have seen, spring break can get dangerous.
For some people, spring break is a time of slutty-ness and drunky-ness. Woo, we're in Mexico, let's meet people from Minnesota and make out with them! Let's enter a wet T-shirt contest (something we would never do at a bar in Madison) and get on a “Girls Gone Wild” video that our parents are going to see on a commercial when we get back home! Let's have sex with someone who we have never met, don't know how dirty they are and have no way of contacting when we find we have genital warts when we're back in the United States! Let's get too drunk to keep track of our friends as one of them disappears!
My favorite spring break so far was going to London and Paris last year to visit some roommates who were studying abroad. We were so busy sightseeing all day and attempting to speak French that we were too tired to go out at night. My guess is that places like Mexico and even places in the United States (no way!) have things you can do besides drinking. Whether it's sightseeing, shopping, tanning, exploring — maybe we just need a little balance to prevent the madness. And, don't worry — we managed to get drunk in London and lost on the tube for at least four hours one night.
Although whatever happens in (insert spring-break destination) stays in (insert spring-break destination), there are things like rumors, creepy people, STDs and digital photos that can follow you back home. One week of fun isn't worth hurting a relationship or embarrassing yourself. And one drunken night in another country isn't worth putting yourself in danger.
But of course, there are sure to be tons of nasty spring break pictures on the Facebook … especially on the profiles of those girls who are the “Elite Hot Girls on Campus” (can't wait to get an e-mail from one of them). You know there will be plenty of bikini pictures, beach pictures and booty pictures. The joke may be on them though since an advisor at the job center told me that some employers check Facebook profiles of potential employees. You might not want to have a blurred nude beach picture posted under your name unless you sent a job application to Playboy (and you might want to get out of that “I Nap All Day” and “Procrastinators Anonymous” group that so many students are in).
So besides being safe and smart, remember your homework over break: relax. Make sure you get your dinner (and a cocktail) and follow your bedtime: it's 9 a.m. But just make sure if you catch a bad case of the spring break fever, you can fully recover when you get back to Madison and still have your pride, sanity and friends. You can keep the tan, though.
Aubre Andrus is a senior double majoring in journalism and communication arts. She's going to Jamaica with The Ocho for spring break and plans to come back with braids, an accent and a tan. She can be reached at [email protected].
