Making the Most of Spending Spring Break in Your Hometown

By: Natalia Wurst ‘21

It’s the time of the year when a lot a small talk conversations will somehow end up incorporating, “So, any spring break plans?” At that point, you probably already realized that a train ticket back to your hometown is the most money/energy/effort you can afford to spend. But then the doubts start to settle–does that make me a friendless lame-o who will look back on their college years and start uncontrollably sighing with regret? Is everyone hanging out without me?

Fear not, because the answer is a 95% confident no to all of the above. Instead of making up a fake trip to the Bahamas with your fifty best friends, here’s why/how you should embrace going home for break:

Realize that you’re actually pretty lucky

Not everyone gets the chance to go places during the week off–a lot of out-of-staters not only don’t partake in the fifty-best-friends-and-Bahamas fantasy trip, but they also don’t even get to see their families. So they’re stuck on campus, which sucks (fight on though). You, on the other hand, get to sleep in peace and quiet, without floormates screaming in the hall for unknown reasons. You get to be fed without worrying about how many meal swipes it’s going to cost you. You get to be surrounded by people who love you and have missed you, and think you’re a shining gold star.

Catch up on schoolwork

This sounds like the most friendless and lame-o part of the list, but hear me out. Most of us have that second round of midterms waiting to stab us in the back the second break is over, and no amount of denial will change that. At home, since no one is texting you about the Justin Bieber concert happening in McCarthy quad, like, right now, you have the chance to sit down and stare at textbook pages. It sounds awful, I know–but at least your MATH 126 grade will thank you.

Visit your old high school pals

Chances are, your spring break doesn’t overlap with that of your old high school’s. You also likely had beloved teachers and friends 12+ months younger than you that left behind when you graduated–so here’s where you exploit both. During designated lunchtime (now a foreign concept), surprise your Speech and Debate squad, or the teacher that inspired you to pursue your major. I promise you they’ll be happy to see you (and your self-esteem will skyrocket).

My English teacher senior year had some previous students come in to quell our anxieties about college, and I remember staring at them in pure awe. If you love being stared at in pure awe, I highly reccommend you be one of those previous students.

Learn new recipes

If this is the first year you haven’t had unlimited access to EVK, in which you could use a $12.75 swipe on a single banana without batting an eye, it’s probably been a struggle. Spend time with your parents in the kitchen, and you’ll see that a lot of homemade recipes you’re obsessed with are actually pretty accessible. Absorb their wisdom, jot down some notes, and come back one week later ready to blow people’s minds with your meal-prep skills (easy peasy).

Reconnect with family

One of the relationships I’ve found difficult to maintain as strong as I left it is the one with my sixteen-year-old brother. FaceTime never seems to do our inside jokes justice (also, you can’t shove people on the shoulder through a screen). It’s really important for me to physically be near him. Though he is a man of few words, I could tell by the way he asked why I was leaving so soon on one of the weekend trips home I made, that it’s important for him too.

Most likely, spring break will be one of the longest stretches of time that you get to spend around your immediate loved ones, so enjoy. Take time to rewatch old episodes of The Office with everyone and hug them a little tighter than normal.

Happy hometown-embracing!

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