spring break

[Daisy]

hello

This has come up in conversation with my friends recently. What actually is spring break? I get that its somekind of uni holiday, and for some a massive party. I was talking to them about alcohol and age limits, and someone suggested that the reason spring break was so talked about was because uni/college students will travel to a place its legal to drink and get a bit wild. Is that what it is? and is that the reason that its known for being so wild?- at least the impression I get from films etc. that students go overboard because they aren't really used to alcohol, well and can't be as open about it allyear round like we can. If thats true, think our freshers week will be our equivilant - the first week of uni thats usually just one massive party, and 18yr olds go abit wild with their first freedom and ability to buy alcohol.

 

Thanks,

Celia

[Tiff]

Spring Break is known for being a wild week. Winter break vacations you hang out with family and go somewhere warm, but spring break is all about your friends and having a good time. It's really the only time off we get during our spring semester (second term) and college students want to make the most of it.

 

I think all the movies we see are somewhat accurate in terms of spring break being a crazy time. In the US the legal limit is 21 and going to places like Mexico or the Bahamas or wherever else really gives us an excuse to go all out, sometimes overboard even. But like I said, it's only for one week or so; live it up!

 

Personally, I like spring break to be relaxing, such as going to the beach, and much rather not spend the evenings or the mornings sleeping in a toilet in case I get the urge to project anything. But again, a personal preference.

[BeaStKid]

If you're asking when Spring Break is, then this site is for you...

 

http://studenttravel.about.com/od/springbr..._spring_bre.htm

 

 

BeaStKid

[Graeme]

Something that took me a while to understand is that the American school year is almost continuous. Unlike Australia, where there are regular breaks during the school year (four terms, with a two week break between them, and a six week break between school years), the USA school year just rolls through. There are breaks for various national holidays, with longer breaks for Thanksgiving and Christmas, but Spring Break is a week off from school -- something that the students have been largely missing since their last Summer holiday.

 

While, in theory, many of them are supposed to use the time to get ready for exams, it is used as an excuse to let their hair down and relax. Hence the reputation for being a bit rowdy at times.....

[rich_e]

While, in theory, many of them are supposed to use the time to get ready for exams, it is used as an excuse to let their hair down and relax. Hence the reputation for being a bit rowdy at times.....

 

Perhaps that's the case for semester-based schools, but on the quarter system, spring break is after the winter quarter and before the spring quarter... so no exams to study for.

[Daisy]

Thanks for all your answers. Obviously things are abit different in the uk. It was only until this friend suggested about travelling to another country to drink that it clicked about the whole week, though I get not everybody does that, just like not everybody goes to Ibiza or simular here in the summer. I get way more holidays than you guys (my uni is the most liberal in that regard in the country) but it also means I am getting less for my money technically. Our big party time begins in a weeks time, at least in my uni. Everybody finishes exams (and I only have one set a year so they are BIG - infact this years counts towards 60% of my degree - but of course some of that pressure is taken of by coursework) and I then have 3 weeks before term officially ends and graduation but nothing really to do except have fun (and possibly earn money), its a silly system, most uk uni's arent like this, but i really enjoy the time to relax with friends before we all disapear around the country - this time for good.

Celia

[AFriendlyFace]

Well, I'm certainly not adverse to a party here and there, but personally speaking I never once had a wild spring break. LOL, in my book weekends are for partying (and the occasional weeknight I suppose ), significant time off is for MAJOR relaxing, which to me actually translates into relatively quiet time alone or only with close friends/family.

 

HAHA, maybe it just means I do go out too much. When I have a break I want an actual break from all my routine life, including 'partying'

Edited May 26, 2008 by AFriendlyFace

[Bandage]

HAHA, maybe it just means I do go out too much. When I have a break I want an actual break from all my routine life, including 'partying'

You wee party animal

 

 

Well, the system in Belgium is different than that too, lol!

When my exams finish (June 19 atm ) I'm free of school until September 22 (Semester-based ftw )

Of course, I will have to work in the mean time :wacko:

[Daisy]

Well, I'm certainly not adverse to a party here and there, but personally speaking I never once had a wild spring break. LOL, in my book weekends are for partying (and the occasional weeknight I suppose ), significant time off is for MAJOR relaxing, which to me actually translates into relatively quiet time alone or only with close friends/family.

 

HAHA, maybe it just means I do go out too much. When I have a break I want an actual break from all my routine life, including 'partying'

 

nah, doesnt sound like too much . Apart from the last 2 terms (from jan) we go out alot here too. strangely its normally during the week or was especially in the first 2 years, the weekends are usually for the locals, and there can be quite abit of local/student rivalry in my town. yeah when i go home for hols its generally been for a quietish break too - uni has been one intense time (that and hardly any of us can afford the non-student prices when we go home). most uni's here get about 2to3+ months off for summer, so thats a completly different type of break.

 

Celia

Edited May 26, 2008 by Smarties

[rknapp]

Over here, we get two days off for Thanksgiving holida (some colleges give three if they have a lot of out-of-state students going home) which makes for a long weekend. Then we have a month-long Winter Break starting in the middle of December and ending in the middle of January. Then we have a week off somewhere in March for Spring Break. I've had three of these so far and none of them have been spent outside the state of New Jersey -- hell none of them have been spent with friends, I usually get ditched such as this past Spring Break where my once-best-friend (thin ice now) asked me to drive him to the Atlantic City Airport so he could fly to Myrtle Beach for a track competition. He wound posting pictures online of him playing volleyball on the beach and partying, asshole.

 

After that, starting around the beginning of May and lasting until the beginning of September (about four months) we have Summer Break. It's not much of a break since I have a lot of 6 am shifts at work... and some 10am - 6:30pm shifts, which shit all over your day.