Spring Break 2K16

Dear Spring Breakers,

I had never really had a true spring break until last week. My junior year of college; well, unless you consider getting kicked out of your friend’s overbearing mother’s house and becoming stranded in Connecticut.

This year, I wanted to give it my all, and have the crazy spring break that we hear stories about. The parties, friends, nonstop excitement, and most of all no school. Who doesn’t want that? In the words of the illustrious Shia Labeouf: JUST DO IT. However, it doesn’t have to be Cabo San Lucas or Miami, you don’t need a group of twenty friends, and you definitely don’t need to plan for months.

Spring Break was two weeks away, and I had accepted that I would be waitressing tables, and dealing with rude, self-proclaimed, restaurateurs, while my friends were in some distant oasis partying their faces off. When the weekly schedule was posted, I was in no hurry to see it. But WHAT?! My name wasn’t posted. In a flurry of excitement, I called my roommate from work, and when I got home, the plan was to drive to her father’s condo in Florida in six days. I was going to have a real Spring Break.

Then, mysteriously, our plans changed two days out: Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. We booked the cheapest hotel we thought would still have clean sheets. The next day, our third roommate had an epiphany while working a grueling ten-hour shift. He came back to our small apartment at 11:30 pm, packed a couple of bathing suits and sunscreen, and by midnight on Thursday, we were speeding through the night to a place we knew nothing about, knew no one there and had no expectations but warm weather, poolside drink service and clean sheets.

Myrtle Beach blew my mind. The weather, around-the-clock entertainment, and ocean view from our modest balcony was the perfect way to spend a week free from the stresses of assignments and the endless, dismal winter in New Hampshire. Anxious Spring Breakers get so involved in planning and executing the perfect escape, that they miss the happiness of the entire adventure. I tried to plan the perfect vacation once, and all it got me was a dirty hotel room, just trying to get home and end the misery. So people, slow down, pump the brakes, relax, and follow wherever the journey takes you. Be happy and you’ll have the time of your lives. 

CLOCK PHOTO/KRISTAN McCOY