why skipping the extravagant trip and spending break at home can be the perfect reset
Spring break is supposed to be all about beaches, tanning and going out with friends, but the stigma around it has created such high expectations that college students feel pressured to start planning months in advance for some extravagant vacation to a tropical place. These expectations make planning that one week off from school unnecessarily stressful, often turning spring break preparation into a nightmare. It’s one of the hardest trips to plan because fitting everyone’s preferences and accommodating everyone’s needs is nearly impossible. In my own experience last year, my friends couldn’t agree on a destination that everyone liked, and we just got stuck trying to plan it. Although the spring break trip didn’t end up working out, I’m still looking forward to recharging and spending time relaxing in a different way after such a long stretch at school.
While there’s a lot of pressure to have exciting plans, not everyone is traveling abroad or staying at some fancy all-inclusive resort over spring break. These trips aren’t just hard to coordinate with a group, but they’re also really expensive. Even though it might seem like almost everyone is doing something super fun or traveling somewhere amazing, that’s not always the reality. Despite what you see on social media or hear around campus, plenty of students aren’t going on fancy trips or traveling at all. The truth is, spring break looks different for everyone, and it’s completely fine if yours does too.
Overall, spring break is a chance to recharge, relax and do what’s comfortable for you. Compared to many other colleges, UW-Madison has a relatively late spring break. While many other schools have already had theirs or are currently on break, students here have to wait nine weeks before we get ours, which is over two months since the second semester started. Personally, I’ll be traveling back to my hometown, spending a lot of time with my family and hanging out with my hometown friends I haven’t seen since returning to campus for second semester.
Ultimately, spring break should be a time to relax, prioritize yourself and do whatever makes you happy during your time off from school. It’s important to choose what feels most comfortable for you instead of relying on external pressures or social media expectations to shape your decision.