Shakira Mills
Staff Writer
Spring break is right around the corner, and I want my classmates to do this vacation right. We’ve all seen the movies, television shows and other media references to crazy spring break trips where everything that can go wrong does. Be it what MTV depicts as a normal, they have crazy college students dancing on bars and wet T-shirt contests, or even an episode of “Gilmore Girls” where students are expected to get drunk and hook up, we see it all around us this time of year. It’s a presumption that our demographic flocks south to Florida and Cancun for the warm weather and tasty drinks.
Whether or not this is reality, when you take a trip anywhere, terrible things can happen. Between finding yourself exposed on the Internet the next morning and getting arrested in a different country, there are many things that can go wrong during spring break. Some are common like social media mistakes, while others are more rare like getting kidnapped in Mexico, but they can and really do happen.
I’m not saying this for entertainment, but more as a warning. The last thing our campus community needs is for one of our students to be passed out on a Florida sidewalk or in jail the day before Easter.
Here are few situations you might find yourself in next week and some helpful advice as what to do when things get crazy.
Firstly, if you will be drinking, when the fun night is over but no one is ready to settle down, remember you are in reality not “The Real World.” There is no need for hooking up with random strangers, group showering or any other kind of regrettable shenanigans.
Secondly, believe it or not, it is said that many spring breakers at one point end up having a heart-to-heart with random people. It’s a cliché to say you’re confessing your pain to a bartender, so maybe don’t join in on that when it’s 4 a.m. and all your friends are passed out somewhere. Keep your drunken pain to yourself. Not only is this embarrassing, but it’s also pointless. At the crack of dawn, the last place you need to be is sharing personal details with someone who does not know and certainly doesn’t respect you.
Thirdly, stay away from large amounts of alcohol. Thanks to the multiple repercussions, heavy drinking shouldn’t be permitted on spring break. Not only is it bad for your body and very caloric, but it causes you to make the dumbest decisions you most likely will ever make. When I asked a friend one day what her biggest spring break regret was, she shocked me with the answer of not knowing the last name of the guy she hooked up with. At first it was funny. But then I started to realize that this is something anyone would regret and it is easy to prevent. Single or taken, be conscious of whose bed you’re in. You don’t want to be so wasted you cheat or make a poor decision. If you can’t state their full name, hometown and campus by the end of the night, get out and run fast! You don’t need to be there.
Lastly, one thing that shouldn’t happen is the disappearance of all that work that has slowly started to accumulate this semester. One of the biggest mistakes students make during college spring break is not finishing the work you probably should have already completed. Yes, spring break is the one vacation where missing a wet T-shirt contest on the beach is particularly brutal and you need to unwind. However, you will eventually be thankful for the time you put in to doing your work and spending at least some of the time catching yourself up.
Moral of the story, don’t get arrested or kidnapped, stay away from people you don’t know, don’t get so drunk that you don’t know where you are or who you’re with, and try your best to be somewhat productive.
Have a wonderful and safe spring break VWC!
