College students have been counting down to spring break since the first day of second semester.
Haven’t you noticed all the cardio machines are taken at the gym? It’s not because of New Year’s resolutions anymore; it is out of a desperate attempt to get a spring break body a month prior. Girls running on no-carb diets so they can rock their bikini in South Padre.
Boys hogging bench racks so they can double fist brews under the sun without feeling bad about the calories they’re inhaling (trading protein shakes for beer is traumatizing).
I always wondered what one of those crazy trips would be like, you know, in all of the movies. PCB used to be the spot for all of the shenanigans, but it seems that its been destroyed by the herds of college masses.
Amidst the crazy college fads, there are those at the gym preparing for what will be an equally important trip for them: building homes with Habitat for Humanity in Winder, Georgia. Well, that’s one of the many alternative spring break trips that students have the chance to go on. This spring break will be the very first time I embark on a journey like this, and what better way to document the experience than here with all of you? Anticipating alternative spring break is a whirlwind of excitement and quite uncertain.
When I applied for the trip, I did so willingly expecting to not know anybody also attending. I was right. I knew all of one person who had been a classmate of mine, and that was it.
This was exactly what I had wanted and nothing was more fulfilling than walking into a room of people I didn’t know gripping an opportunity to meet all of them – all equally bright and all equally enticing. We are all honors students and will be taking the honors bus to our destination where we will spend a week of service.
Prior to the trip our honors team has weekly meetings where we learn, prepare, and do pre-service.
Let me explain. For example, at our first meeting we made blankets for the residents of the homes we will be building. At our second meeting, we learned about how service has been present in all of our lives and what to do with our “day books” which we will be using to document our personal growth through the journey. I anticipate this experience to impact me in some ways I’m just not quite sure how yet, but hopefully I have an answer for you on that later. For now, stick with me and stay tuned for my post trip article.