Binge drinking, random hookups, no schoolwork, people flashing. No, it's not another weekend at Boston College - it's spring break. And it's almost here. I'm heading to the Bahamas, and to be honest, all I want to do is sit on the beach and relax.
I want to drink those fruity drinks with the tiny umbrellas that normally would provoke a punch in the mouth from my buddies but mysteriously become acceptable while sitting on some lounge chair staring at all of the sweet dudes hitting on the girls.
Some people go on spring break for the partying, but not me. I deal with all of the craziness every weekend, especially since it's second semester senior year. I need a break from the partying. It's like spring break here every weekend. Why would I pay $800? I don't have to fly somewhere to spend another $800. I don't have money just to do the same thing I could do here in Chestnut Hill.
First I'd like to argue the stereotype that there's crazy random hooking up on spring break. I've gone somewhere for the past two years and there has been no hooking up. Maybe I drink too much, or more likely the allure of a few blackjack and Caribbean Stud tables interests me a little more than catching some syphilis. Plus, who wants to be sleeping head to toe with your buddy as you have to listen to your one hip-shooter roommate in the bed right next to you get down to business? I'll pass.
As for the drinking, I'm amazed BC lets us have 10 days off. We can barely make it to Monday classes after the weekend. We need spring break for a week and then another week of recovery. Talk about endurance. The last thing I want to do after a night of slugging back Red Stripes and getting punched in the face by some meathead is to hop out of bed and crack another cold one. But it happens.
And is it just me, or is everyone else on spring break completly ripped? It's always me and my friends competing to be "the funny guy," needing 20 daiquiris to get the courage to take off our shirts. Since when did wife beaters become the standard male spring break gear? They're all over the place.
Halfway through the trip I start to feel bad for all of the guys that couldn't pack their Camaro T-tops to cruise the strip in. You know the guys that are a little old to be cruising on spring break. They don't look like they're on a recess from studies; they look like they're on parole.
Have you ever noticed that when you go away, the people look better? I don't know if we get used to the people around us or if the "tonight or never" attitude takes over our vision, but it just seems like people are better looking when you go away.
People are less inhibited, constantly repeating to themselves, "I'll never see these people again." Yeah that's probably true, but when the Girls Gone Wild crew starts knocking on your door, maybe you should think about your daddy's e-mail box flooding with cheap shots from everyone he's known since you were born.
It's easy to make bad decisions under the influence of alcohol in a new and different place you'll probably never go back to. But I warn, try using your head before doing something crazy. I certainly regret the trip out into international waters to donate my food money for the week to the Sun Cruz casino boat. Getting seasick was just an extra kick in the pants.
Oh, and those doing service trips, you can keep telling yourself that it's an alternative to partying and hooking up, something good. And I agree - it certainly is a great program and sounds like you learn a lot about yourselves and the people you are helping. But let's be honest. You guys throw more parties and have more incestual hooking up going on after your trip to make the average spring breaker heading back from Cancun blush.
You guys could teach us finance people a few things. Invest your week of spring break doing something good and then reap the benefits for the rest of the year in the form of parties and new boyfriends and girlfriends. Dividends baby, dividends! It's like those singles cruises: icebreakers, activities, etc., like BC's Club Med in rural Virginia. What's next? Five-minute dating on the trip down?
Hanging with the fam can be great, but when you schlep back here after break and have to deal with everyone being tan, and still high-fiving about the night they woke up in the bushes 20 miles from the hotel, you'll want to scream.
Last year some of my roommates' parents wouldn't let them go to Jamaica. Weren't allowed? Jamaica is like going to Disneyland compared to some of the stuff that goes on here. Spring break is typically a wild week of crazy college students going crazier than normal. But for me, I'm going to sit on the beach, maybe do some fishing, sit at the blackjack tables for a few hours and take a break from the crazy college debauchery. We all could use a few days to sit back and relax.
Look for RJ Milligan on the beach. He will be the one rocking the zinc oxide on his nose and the pink umbrellas in his drinks.
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