Never Went On “Spring Break”…And Proud Of It!

By Abby

For college students everywhere, mid-March means the glorious time to break away from the monotonous second semester daily grind and go buck wild on sunny beaches for a week. Although I participated in most “college-esque” activities; sororities, student organizations, etc, having the stereotypical balls to the wall spring break was something I never did. And now, looking back on it, I’m proud of it.

Trying to convince my conservative parents that spending upwards of $1500-$2000 for a week’s vacation was a hopeless cause. All of my friends would say, “But alcohol is included in the package deal! All you can drink!” Yeah, I’m sure that will be a real selling point. “You see mom, I can binge drink with all that money…”

At the time, I thought I would look back on my college experience and wish I would have splurged on a crazy spring break experience. But now that I am more removed from the situation and college life, I’m actually kind of happy that I didn’t partake.

A recent article commenting on how college girls “mistake raunchiness for confidence” on spring break vacations has further reinforced my newfound feelings as well…

Megan Daum, a writer for the LA Times detailed her experience of being in Cancun while researching a magazine article:

“The raunchy contests and general debauchery were something that these women had prepared for, almost as though for a final exam. They’d logged hours at the gym, in tanning booths and at body wax salons. They’d save up money for breast implants and then timed the surgery so they’d be healed by spring break. Some seemed to have practiced drinking, experimenting with different alcohol combinations to see what afforded the fastest buzz with the least amount of calories and dollars spent,” she writes.

Sound familiar? Maybe some of you are running out the door right now to hit the gym before Spring Break 08 kicks off next week.

Daum goes onto to make an observation that is disheartening, sad, and unfortunately, very true in many cases.

“The more women I talked to, the more it became clear that hotness was, for them, the largest factor in the equation of their self-worth. When they talked about what they wanted to do with their lives, they spoke not of jobs or grad school but of looking good, of having the right equipment and experience to ensure a place in the raunch-obsessed pop culture they’d come to see as the real world.”

Don’t get me wrong, I’m all for having a great time with your friends. I just think it’s important to keep in mind that there’s more to life than getting black out drunk at 11 am on a beach…seven days in a row.

So for any girls out there heading home to catch up with family and friends or going on a volunteer trip to do charity work, kudos! In all honesty, you probably aren’t missing out on much, and most people won’t even remember their crazzyyy Spring Break anyways.