Every year when I come home in April for spring break, I’m hit with questions like, “Why are you home? Don’t you have school?” When I respond that this week is my spring break, I receive odd stares and more questions about why my spring break is now. Last night at my Seder (the ritual meal on Passover), I heard these same questions, either statements like, “the more you pay, the less you go” from my dad or remarks such as “I’m so jealous!” from other collegiettes, and it got me thinking about the pros and cons of our beloved Brandeis spring break.
Con: This break occurs so close to finals.The fact that this break happens so close to finals, especially this year, means a lot of time during break might be spent writing research papers or getting ready to study for tests. My freshman year I went to visit my sister in Florida, but I had three research papers. I brought lots of library books with me, thinking I could get tons of work done. Although I tried really hard (I even brought books out to the pool while I tanned!), I didn’t really get a lot of work done, which just added to my stress after I came back to campus. This break is either spent doing work, or stressing about the work you should be doing but just can’t do because you’re on a sunny island in the Caribbean.
Pro: This break occurs so close to finals.If you are unlike me, and plan ahead and like to write papers (does anybody?), you might find this break helpful because it gives you plenty of time to write your papers without the stress of classes and friends wanting to hang out.
Con: None of your friends have the same break. This is definitely a huge problem with this break because none of your friends are home. All of my friends go to school out of state, so I can’t even see them for a day if I wanted to. This is one of the worst things about break because it usually means there are not too many people to see or hang out with, which equals boredom. This also means you can’t plan a fabulous spring break get-away to Cancun with your high school friends because their school is normal and has spring break in March.
Pro: None of your friends have the same break. This can provide an excellent time to visit your friends at school and see them in their natural habitat. If all your breaks are the same as your friends’, then when will you visit them on their campus?
Con: Break isn’t in the middle of March.This means you can’t take advantage of cheap travel deals and packages for college students wanting to break in Cancun and other typical destinations.
Pro:Break isn’t in the middle of March.If you’re like me and live kind of far from Brandeis, travel fare will most likely be cheaper because airlines don’t expect many people to be traveling in April.
So, the moral of the story is that if you want to go on a crazy trip with your high school friends to the Bahamas, this break is not for you. But, if you either like to do all your work ahead of time or to celebrate Passover with your family, this break is perfect for you. Either way, we’re stuck with this Brandeis spring break for the foreseeable future, so make the most of it and relax because, before you know it, finals will be here.