As spring break approaches, many options are available to the humble college student. Florida? Cancun? Nashville? Anywhere to escape the reality that spring break at Michigan State is still basically winter. The dark horse of all of the options, coming in with the steel chair, is staying home. However, when your Instagram feed is full of your peers downing margaritas and getting suntans, how is staying home even a comparable option?
School is exhausting and so is travel
The semester is a non-stop grind of school, work, clubs, and repeat. While it may be advantageous to spread your wings and relax elsewhere, starting the next week of school is an entirely new beast. Last year, I went on a spring break trip for the first time in my life. I arrived home on Saturday and was completely exhausted and disoriented starting the second half of the semester. I was at work, thinking to myself: I was in Manhattan 48 hours ago. WTF?!? As much fun as I had, starting school again was rough and I didn’t feel prepared at all. I suppose this is the reality of taking any vacation, that one day you’ll have to get back to work, but the transition wasn’t sitting well with me.
Travel is expensive
This isn’t a revelation. Even the most budget-savvy traveler cannot compare to the low-cost alternative to staying home, and unfortunately, some of us still have to show up to work even when class is out. Whether “home” is your college apartment or your family home, you probably won’t have to dip into your savings. Even if you have to fly home, you will (hopefully) get some free food at the very least. When March hits and everyone is feeling the financial strain of their vacation, you may have had a boring week, but at least it was a cheap week.
Free time to pursue those things you’ve been putting off since New Year’s
Contrary to above, your week does not have to be boring. Two months into the semester and new year, there are surely some things that have fallen by the wayside. Deep clean the apartment, cook a fancy meal, reorganize that planner, and finally read that book. It’s a way to reset for the rest of the semester and come back refreshed. Hopefully, with a week off of class, I will find time to pursue my own creative writing, do some reading for fun and not class, and visit my favorite places on and around campus.
Calmly reset for the rest of the semester
The second half of the semester is when things start to get serious. My classes usually don’t have a lot of exams, but I do have a lot of final projects. If you’re smart and proactive, you will start to focus on these projects starting after break (so, not me). If you take this week to relax and reset, you can start the second half in a good headspace to finish the semester strong. Some people can bounce back quickly after a chaotic or stressful week. Personally, one bad week can spiral into a series of bad weeks that take a lot of effort to get out of. Restarting strong gives me a better chance of keeping on top of things.
Being home is a relaxing enough vacation for me
I’m so busy during the school year that I don’t see my family often, even though they don’t live that far away. I’m grateful for the opportunity to spend some quality time with them, even though it won’t be the full week. “Family” can be complicated for some, and East Lansing may be the best place to call home at the moment. In that case, this week off can be used to spend quality time with found family, free from the restrictions of juggling multiple class schedules.
There are many advantages to staying home for spring break. I am a big fan of using the week to relax and reconnect with the people and things that I love. It’s precious time, once we graduate, no one is going to give us a free week off to go wild with. It’s most important to do what you want to do. The best spring break is really in the eye of the beholder.