As the winter chill begins to thaw, spring break approaches, and the first half of midterms becomes a mere memory, you begin to get out of your winter slump. Staying curled up in your dorm room reading Plato is feeling even lamer than usual as you yearn to bask in the randomly warm weather. So instead of preparing for the next round of painful midterm exams and essays, you begin to fill your social calendar with all the great events you want to attend this spring. But, alas, you are at Columbia and you find that there is nothing too exciting going on this spring in Morningside Heights.
So what are we Barnard partygoers supposed to do? Soon the sun will be shining and we will need to be entertained by activities that are a little more college than going to the MoMA or NYCB. Luckily for us, there are plenty of nearby schools to which we can flock to have ourselves a good time.
U Penn – Spring Fling
Only $15 and a two-hour bus ride away, Penn is a great place to have some ivy league bonding over day parties (dartys) and loud music. Spring Fling is like Bacchanal on crack. It lasts 3 times as long (3 full days instead of 1), has 3 times as much space to have events (#occupyWestPhilly), and has 5 times as many frat parties to go to. Penn students almost never go abroad in the Spring specifically so that they can attend Spring Fling. Last year featured Ratatat, Lupe Fiasco, and Day Glow in addition to a weekend long carnival that takes place in the quad complete with fried dough, cotton candy, and a moon bounce.
Cornell – Slope Day
While Ithaca is a less-convenient place to visit than Philly, it is certainly much more scenic and the campus to campus bus will provide you with a preparatory nap on the way upstate and a perfect hangover rest on the way down. Slope Day gets its name from the hill in front of the main library where it is hosted. With only 11 sororities for the 25 frats to pregame with, we Barnardians will find no ratio problem here. Last year’s performance featured Nelly, although since festivities begin around 9:00am and he didn’t perform until around 4:00pm, it is debatable how memorable his performance actually was. I’m sure Snoop Dog can relate?
Brown – Spring Weekend
So, not as creative a name as Penn, but I guess rhymes just aren’t hipster. Despite Brown’s rep for being super alternative, they aren’t too indie to enjoy a good rage sesh. Spring Weekend’s past performers have included Das Rascist, P. Diddy and (okay fine, slightly indie) TV on the Radio, but the music is not the only feature of this two-day concert. There are tons of parties all day Friday and Saturday including a giant foam party.
Syracuse – May Fest, Bloc Party
‘Cuse ensures that their spring concert lasts all day by hosting two events, that are basically the same thing, one right after the other. Kid Cudi, Damien Marley, and the Cataracts performed last year at this twenty-four hour party. Music and food line all the streets surrounding the campus so that everyone is out and about all day with enough energy to keep the party going.
NYU – Strawberry Fest
In typical NYU fashion, Strawberry Fest is more like a SoHo street fair than a raging concert, because, like, concerts are soooo mainstream. Named for the longest strawberry cake to be baked in NYC, the actually cool part of this festival is that the university gets permission for the city to close down most of Union Square so that they can have carnival booths and food and a concert stage, obvs. Because most NYU students do their own thing rather than participate in school-sponsored events, it is not as big a deal as spring concerts are at other schools. However, since it is just a quick ride down the 1 train, it is a great excuse to get out of MoHi.
Tufts – Spring Fling
Sorry, U Penn, you weren’t actually that original. Awkward. Tufts beats you in creativity also because due to their small Greek system, not only frats and sororities craft gear to celebrate this one day concert, but dance groups, the newspaper staff, and even unaffiliated groups of friends will pay Adam Block designs to manufacture shirts, hats, and sunglasses emblazoned with Spring Fling slogans. Tufts also has the student body vote on potential performers, which has its pros and cons because last year featured The Roots (ehhh) but this year they could potentially have LMFAO (cool).
U Mich – St. Patty’s Day
If you were too lazy/unorganized/can’t-think-more-than-one-week-in-advance, didn’t book your Punta Cana ticket and are still looking for something a little crazy to do for Spring Break, you might consider flying to Michigan for St. Patrick’s Day. It’s probably one of the only places that makes a bigger deal out of this Irish holiday than South Boston. With football season nowhere in sight, U Mich kids are looking for any excuse to have day parties and dress in themes. Since even the party-5-days-a-week U Mich students declare St. Patty’s as one of the best days of the academic year, you can be sure that your fun is guaranteed.
Wash U – WILD
If you are willing to board a plane this Spring you should consider making St. Louis a destination. WILD, which stands for Walk In Lay Down, is one of the biggest spring weekends of any college. Students used to drag beanbag chairs, recliners, and even sofas outside to watch an all day concert. To replace this tradition, students make drinking games out of their big lecture classes because the concert takes place on a Friday (when other schools less awesome than Barnard and Columbia have class).