It's good to be back. The ocean, the sand, the rum punch … it was all fun, but how long can you really stay on spring break? Even though there is snow in Madison and it's way too cold to really be spring, everyone was ready to come home and end the week-long binge of crappy food, the blasting sun and the relentless party music from 12 p.m. to 5 a.m.
On the bus back to the airport in Jamaica, our student travel agency gave us a promotional newsletter calling themselves "professional spring breakers." You too, could become a professional if you completed all 19 of our travel agency's spring break destinations. And if you hit all of their hot spots they will give you free spring break trips … for the rest of your life.
As the bus drove down the secluded Jamaican roads lined with lavish resorts, green palm trees and the turquoise ocean just within our reach, the proposition of eternal spring break sounded wonderful. Think about it: spring break every year, for the rest of your life. Next year in Cabo, the next in Acapulco and the next on a cruise ship in the Caribbean! The crazy dancing, the insane drinking, the poolside bars, the clubs … I think I just found my life's calling.
But then reality set in: we're not in college forever … which means we can't act like college students forever. And even this year, I felt like we were already growing out of spring break. My spring break trip during senior year of high school — where we pretended we were in college and danced on the bar in Cabo like the super-cool 18-year-olds that we were — compared to my senior year in college's spring break — where we spent time relaxing on the beach and sharing the books we were reading — were completely different.
Maybe it's because Jamaica was a lot more low-key ("Yeah mon!") than Mexico … or maybe it's because we didn't spend $200 on the party pass and hit up the sausage fests every night … but either way, Jamaica was infiltrated by male spring breakers with their shirts off and only one of my roommates made out with someone … that's got to be some kind of record. Eight girls in Jamaica, half of which are single and only one person, on the second-to-last night, makes out with an actually nice and very cute boy who goes to Purdue.
Don't get me wrong, we still had some crazy nights, hung out with some Emory boys, saw a 311 concert and did some cliff diving. But did our early bedtime on the last night to get up for breakfast and beach time make us lame? Did our smirks toward the wet t-shirt contest girls (they were all in high school) and our dramatic walk off the stage when the beer-chugging contest involved the number 69 (with weird random guys) make us more respectable? Are we growing up or were we just acting like old women?
And when are you too old for the springtime drinking festivities? The travel agency also offers spring break trips for grad students, but I get the feeling there are not as many TAs dancing at Margaritaville as undergrads.
These last weeks of college are a weird transition. We are just weeks away from graduation and months away from entering the "real world" with a "real job." Are we supposed to be growing up already? In the middle of spring break lounging and drinking I set up a phone interview for a real job in Chicago. When your semester plans include a block party on Mifflin Street, a booze cruise on Lake Mendota and oh yeah … finding a career and an apartment in Chicago, your life can get confusing. And it turns out searching for a job is not as fun as drinking on the Terrace.
Can't we all just have mac and cheese and watch "Full House" forever like we did in elementary school? OK, I still do that sometimes … but I know I'm not supposed to. When we cross the stage in May, is it all over? Was spring break our 'last hoorah' as college students?
I certainly hope not. We will have to suck it up and act like adults when we are looking for jobs, schmoozing/networking and apartment-hunting. But we still have a few weeks left of college and if we're lucky, we'll be in Madison for the summer. It is possible to balance cool 20-something social lives with a real job and real bills. We might not be able to go to FAC every week or play beer pong in the living rooms of our crappy college apartments, but hopefully we will be making more money in a big city with other people our age … and they might miss the flip cup tournaments, too.
And although those of us who are on the job search will be forced to grow up a little bit, a beer will still be waiting for us on the Terrace this summer, the Camp Randall student section will still welcome us in the fall and the crazy Jamaican Cash Money will still be selling pot on the beach in Negril next spring if we miss them. Maybe in a few years we will be full-blown adults, but right now it's okay to take baby steps.
Aubre is a senior double majoring in journalism and communication arts. She is clearly confused about growing up because over winter break she went to a dirty Atlanta strip club … and Disney World. She can be reached at [email protected].
