Spring break expectations vs. reality

Spring break always seems to be one of the highlights of the school year for students of all ages. Whether we go on a vacation or just hang out at home, it is a week off of school with no responsibilities for any apparent reason other than the fact that it is spring.

Some of us have grown up going on vacations with our families every year, or even just doing something extra fun that week.

Some of us are used to spending the week relaxing at home, hoping the weather is nice enough that we can go outside and enjoy some of the years first warm sunshine.

But once college hits, the expectations seem to change a little. It is the first time in our lives that we have the option to do something fun on our own without the expectation to tag along with the family.

TV shows and movies always seem to make spring break look like one huge party that every single college student somehow shows up to. Typically, this happens in one of two places: a sunny beach with already-tan skin, fruity drinks and cool music, or a perfectly snowy mountain by day, and ski lodge parties by night.

Finally having that freedom from our parents makes us think that our spring break should look like one of those two scenarios, forgetting that we go to school in the middle of Kansas where none of this exists and that our poor-college-student budget probably doesn’t allow for an extravagant vacation. Instead, we end up staying at home, spending the week with our families or hometown friends.

I would say it is a pretty decent alternative to spend time catching up with people we grew up with and hardly see anymore, until we realize our spring break is a week before everyone else’s in the country.

It turns out that our parents have to work all week, our siblings have school every day, and our hometown friends are not even home to hang out with, leaving us at home alone with the dog until they get home every day. #ThanksOttawa.

Now, I’m not saying this has to be completely horrible. It is what you make of it, really.

I actually like hanging out with my dog because I like dogs more than I like most people. The time at home was pretty nice after my always-busy schedule of a student athlete.

What I’m trying to say is that even if your spring break didn’t look like the movies, it is okay. I just hope you made the most of whatever you did and you didn’t allow it to be an #OttawaProblem in your life.