Who doesn’t like spring break? Spring break is the only extended break for college students in the spring semester besides Martin Luther King Jr. Day in January. At FSU this past semester, MLK day fell on the Monday of the week after students returned to class from winter break. Honestly, it didn’t feel like much of a day off rather than an extension of the previous break. I spent my free day sleeping and doing nothing when I should have been getting ahead in homework. But that was over a month ago, and I’ll admit that I needed this spring break to reset my mind for the rest of the semester.
During the fall term, football games and WelcomeFSU events hosted by Student Affairs kept me engaged in daily tasks. The excitement of new students who just started living on their own for the first time mixed with the opening of our new Student Union made me feel well involved this fall semester. As someone who loves cheering for their favorite teams, football season felt like a new adventure every week. Especially since there were so many home games this year (including the game against UF), the campus was alive with all the action. Many of the games were completely sold out!
Though the sporting traditions continued with FSU’s baseball and basketball teams, it just isn’t the same during the spring season. That’s why it’s such a big deal to make the most of spring break when the time comes. After nine consecutive weeks of hard work and in the absence of weekly sports to cheer on, spring break is the one time during the semester with no classes and more importantly, no homework.
The week earlier I was feeling burnt out from papers, midterms, and projects. But it seemed like there was a light at the end of the tunnel called “spring break.” The perfect opportunity to reset my mindset for the rest of the semester and see my family again.
When most people talk about spring break, they usually use it within the context of partying at the beach or traveling somewhere cool. But for me, I needed this break to rest and I went in with the idea that rest was all I was going to do.
My plan wasn’t a complete failure, but it was ignorant of me to think that everything was going as smoothly as I expected it to.
During spring break, anything you do is at least two times more expensive than if you were to do it at any other time. For example, airfare travel and renting hotel rooms are way more expensive since they know that everyone is traveling. A smart business move, but a large expense for the majority of college students who already rely on financial aid to pay for tuition. I went to the beach a few times over the break, but every time it cost me at least $20 to park over five blocks away from the beachfront. Parking there would’ve been free any other time, and in the end, I spent over $80 on parking alone.
Spring break in Florida is completely centered on going to the beach, and the beautiful state of Florida has no shortage of it. Surrounded by water on three sides, you’d imagine that there’s enough beach for everyone. That was not the case this year.
Every beach I went to was packed with people of all ages. Teenagers, toddlers, college students, families and seniors lined the beaches for as far as the eye can see. People playing their different music tastes blasted through every speaker with the sounds overlapping and drowning out the sound of the waves. Children were running everywhere, and it felt like there wasn’t a single square foot left for me to lay my chair out. I like to listen to the waves and relax in the sun. There was so much going on that I could barely hear myself speak at a normal volume. It got to the point where I felt overstimulated and had to leave after being there for an hour.
There’s also so much traffic during that time of the year. Since everyone wants to go home as soon as possible (valid), there’s a higher chance of there being accidents along the roads with people driving recklessly fast. Even if there weren’t multiple accidents, sitting in traffic from congestion for hours on end made the whole experience a lot less enjoyable.
Even though all this running around wasn’t included in my “rest and reset” mindset for spring break, I guess the bright side is that I didn’t have to do anything. Everything that I did over the break was done out of my own choice, and I didn’t have to think about school. In the end, I did think about school and all the work I wasn’t getting ahead in, but maybe I need to be kinder to myself.
Despite how stressed I was the entire break, I’m working and finding times to let myself rest so that I don’t get burnt out. Spring break wasn’t as relaxing as I hoped it would be, but that’s okay. I’m still moving forward to the end of the semester, and one of the more anticipated breaks of the academic year.
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