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Spring break is the one chance the University gives students — in the midst of all the stress of classes and homework — to
It's the one week a year that we're allowed to stop everything.
Cut loose, have fun while you still can
put their academics aside and do something for themselves.
For some, that might just mean catching up on schoolwork, or using the time to put in extra hours at work, so that they can have the money they need to pay their bills for the rest of the semester.
STAFF COLUMNIST
For the Internet users, spring break might be a chance to meet face-to-face
with those people they have been chatting with all year long.
However, for many of us, it's just a chance to get in the car or hop on a plane and take off with our friends to a new and exciting locale.
It can be a lifetime of experience, all packed into one week. It's the one chance a year we can drop our inhibitions and have fun.
Sure, we will have the opportunities to vacation again, but as we get older, things change.
And why shouldn't we? Once we leave college, it's likely that we'll never have this kind of opportunity again.
No, instead we'll have to take our families to places like Disney World and SeaWorld. While those places are a lot of fun, they're not the kind of places where you want to go to get drunk and act really stupid. Actions that might be considered
For one, many of us will have families. Places like Ft. Lauderdale, Fla., just won't seem the same when we have to carry our kids around.
Yes, there will also be times in our lives when we can leave the kids at home and meet up with our friends from college in a Big Chill-style reunion.
However, from watching those types of movies, I think any of us can tell that when we're older, overweight and have ulcers or a heart conditions, it is somewhat more difficult to cut loose and have fun.
proper etiquette for a spring break beach party can get you kicked out of family places and possibly get you arrested.
So as you travel across the country, whether it is to Miami Beach, South Padre Island, or the slopes in Colorado, remember that this may be your last chance to have this kind of fun with your friends. Soak up the memories.
Don't get too angry with your friend when he insists that you listen to his Super Hits of the '70s cassette as you drive past the wheat fields of Kansas. Remember that years from now, you might have to bear the lyrics of Barney or harmonize with your children as they play their Sing Along with the Smurfs album.
Remember that you're only young once, so live it up. However, be sure to be safe, because one of the best things about spring break is living to grow older and remembering, as you sit in your station wagon dragging your family to places like Six Flags or Branson, Mo., how much fun you once had.
Don't get me wrong; I'm not endorsing, or condoning, any specific spring break activity. I'm just saying that whatever you decide to do during your time off from classes, make the best of it. This vacation is the chance to store up memories, both good and bad, that you can carry with you forever.
When you wake up one morning with a hangover and find yourself wearing a pair of boxer shorts that you don't remember owning, save the boxes and cherish the memory of the night you blacked out.
Craig Lang is a Springfield, Mo., junior in journalism
March 1996 The Hill
Spring Fling 6