There’s a joke that circulates across Twitter during the early weeks of March that reads: “I’m going to tell FASFA about all of y’alls Spring Break trips”, and that couldn’t be more hilariously true. I mean, how the hell do these poor college students manage to scramble together enough money to go to Cancun or Fort Lauderdale for a week when they can barely afford the dollar menu at Taco Bell when they’re in school? I mean, are your tax returns really that big?
A ragtag group of five college girls crammed into a red Kia Sorento around 4 a.m. on a Monday morning to head to Panama City Beach, Flor. We sat three across in the backseat with our luggage packed all the way up to the ceiling of the trunk, making visibility out of the back window no longer an option.
I volunteered to take the early morning driving shift. I slept on an air mattress the night before, so it’s not like I wasn’t already wide awake at 3 a.m., laying completely on the hardwood floor through a now-deflated air mattress. I’m pretty sure that thing had a hole in it, and probably could only hold air for a couple of hours before it started wheezing and gave up.
I remember scanning the road signs, desperate to find an open Dunkin’ Donuts or McDonald’s that could give a girl some caffeine. Why didn’t we fly? I thought. My grandmother lives in Orlando and could get one-way flights to Columbus for about $80. I thought about all of the other Wittenberg students I knew who took the easier route, sitting literally on cloud nine, drinking orange juice and sinking back into their faux white leather chairs without a care in the world.
The first day we were in Panama, the weather was picturesque. Every day after that, it was barely 65 degrees and even rained all day one day. I’m not going to sugarcoat it, I wasn’t too happy about the weather. I had spent $82 a night for the AirBnb, another $30 or so a day for food (we ate out a lot) and then another $20-$30 on cover charges at the bars and clubs we went to (which happened several times during that week). After the first couple of days being there, myself and the girls I were with stated to get a little sick of each other.
At this point, I was really thinking, is this whole shindig worth it? For me anyways, I’m not too keen on being drunk 24/7, sunburned and broke for a week straight. And not to mention the caloric intake! I can’t imagine anything being more ironic or hypocritical (don’t worry, I’m also a victim of this too) then spending ample time at the gym and forcing yourself to eat healthier to get that Spring Break body just to eat McDonald’s and pizza for a week straight and drink 800 calories in Natty Lite every day.
I would much rather have a relaxing week on the beach, casually sipping sangria while I watch the waves crash over and over again. But, I guess that’s just an unpopular opinion. I think my whole point here is that I think Spring Break is a bit overrated and I am not a fan of how my version of a fun Spring Break is considered “lame”.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m totally down to shake what my momma gave me and party, but yeesh, doint it every day for a week and being outside in the sun all day has got to drain you like nobody’s business. But, on the other hand, if you don’t have a legendary Spring Break trip with different drunken stories every night, then your vacation is completely disregarded. It’s like you never went to the beach at all! You get one of those “Oh yea, that must’ve been a nice trip” instead of “I bet you guys had so much fun!”
This mentality that a more introverted or lowkey Spring Break isn’t as fun as the drunken version that drives me up a wall. So often, and not just in this scenario, the introverted version of activities is degraded and deemed less important because it isn’t as loud or out there as its extroverted counterpart.
This isn’t to say that I didn’t have fun on my trip to Panama City Beach, because it was a trip I will never forget, or to say that extroverted people are assholes and need to quit shoving their expensive and energetic Spring Break trips in our faces. this is simply a tip of the hat to those of us that prefer something a little different and that it’s perfectly okay.
This is a reminder that just because someone chooses to spend their free time in a more introverted manner, it doesn’t make their actions “lame” or “anti-social”. With that, I applaud those of you extroverted people that have the energy to go 100 miles per hour for that long; I wish I could do the same. But for now, I think I’ll just stick to my sangria and CS Lewis book.
