My best friend came to me two weeks before Spring Break proposing that we should do something fun and different for break to which I couldn’t agree with more. She suggested her beach house in Delaware. The only place I have ever traveled to was North Carolina and it was always with my parents so the idea of traveling without a parent terrified me but excited me all at the same time. I was so curious to learn what it would be like to live without a parent hovering over me watching every move I made. The catch? I’ve never had a sleepover with my friend and was worried about us getting annoyed with each other. Now that break has ended, there were some things I’ve learned from our week of living together:
1. When traveling somewhere unfamiliar, use a GPS consistently
We went half the week using a GPS even if it were to go to the grocery store because we didn’t want to risk getting lost. But towards the end of the trip, we swore we knew where we were going and stopped using the GPS so strictly. We quickly learned from our mistake when a simple trip to a parade downtown turned into us panicking when we ended up at a dirt road in the middle of nowhere. Turns out we were driving in the opposite direction of the parade.
2. Split up chores
Before we even got to the house we talked about who would be expected to do what chores. The entire time we had an inside joke that we were playing “house” and I was the mom and she was the dad of the vacation. We agreed that we would do things the other didn’t do well. In the interest of not flooding or catching the house on fire, I took over laundry and cooking while she did dishes and took out the trash. By talking it out before the trip, we were able to avoid the situation of an unfair chore list.
3. Plan events ahead of time
We had talked about some things we had wanted to do while there but did not actually look up the activities to see if things were open. Because we didn’t look, we didn’t learn that during the off-season more than half the town’s shops were closed. This caused us to have to go with the flow and come up with things on the spot. Some days we spent half the day just trying to find something that was open.
4. Be considerate of each other’s dietary needs
Because of Lent, my friend has gone vegan until Easter which impacted how we went grocery shopping. I was in charge of writing the grocery list since I would be the one cooking. I had never cooked for a vegan before but took the liberty of learning various vegan recipes so my friend wouldn’t feel left out or deprived. I also tried my best going vegan while occasionally breaking the diet when I was really craving something but I tried my best to go as vegan as possible with my friend since we were going to be together all week.
5. Dress accordingly
My friend warned me to pack warmly because the beach was colder during the winter. But I thought she was exaggerating and chose to only bring one jacket, which was thin and no gloves or scarves. I was lucky that my friend planned on me making this had brought along extra layers to keep me warm.
Despite the minor bumps we had during the week, not once did I get sick of my friend. If anything we got closer. Being able to spend all day and then night allowed us to have more meaningful and deep conversations that we don’t always have time for. It was also so rewarding to learn little things about each other that we never knew about each other and see each other being ourselves since we only had each other for the week.