Welcome to the real world. I don't know who exactly came up with the concept of adulting, but I'd like to speak to them because I don't always appreciate it. Yes, life after graduation has had its perks. For one, I don't have to go to class anymore, and have my weekends truly to myself. But, there are also a thousand things I wish I could relive over and over again, and my college friends are just way too far away. Being in the middle of March, you might have some extra memories on your mind. The things you'll miss about spring break are putting you right in your feels, in particular. Ugh, can we go back to college now?
In my opinion, spring break was by far the best part of the spring semester. When life was feeling truly rough, you always had a tropical vacation to pull you right out of all the sadness and stress. You'd power through your midterms hoping that it meant the plane would take off even sooner, and did some solid online shopping during all those lectures (Whoops!)
Especially in your senior year, you heard over and over again to make the most of every moment in college. That one day you'd look back on it all and wish you went out that one Saturday night, and danced until dawn like nobody was watching. These seven things will hit close to home, and have you daydreaming at work about spring breaks of the past. Sorry in advance — I'll try and pass some tissues through the screen.
One of the best parts of spring break is being able to experience summer when winter is just on its way out. Especially if you live or go to school somewhere where it's particularly cold and snowy, you can't wait to break out the bathing suits and sandals and show off that tropical style.
Post-graduation, you might decide to take a beach trip or two with your friends or family as sort of a celebratory thing. Or maybe you're planning on using an entire year to just travel. That's the most ideal situation, to be honest. But, odds are, you'll (at least for a little while) end up getting stuck in sweater weather and sitting by the water cooler. Don't get too discouraged, and buy the sunscreen anyway.
You might have grown up taking endless family vacations to cute cottages by the lake or down to Disney World in Florida. But, once college came around, your roommates became your travel buddies and you started road tripping anywhere and everywhere.
Truth is, as much as we love our parents and siblings, taking a trip with your friends is just so much more fun. It's like you're taking all of your inside jokes along for a wild ride, and the memories you can make together are endless. Especially in college and on spring break, you're all equally sort of broke, so you ball out on a budget and settle for endless buffets at somewhat rundown resorts. It's like every sitcom or movie scene, and all part of the adventure.
If you thought your planner was packed during the semester, just wait until you hit the post-grad life. Suddenly, you're sending in a thousand applications and landing your first job and stuck with minimal time to do the spontaneous things in life. You only get so many vacation days, and find yourself using your weekend to do the necessary adulting tasks like cleaning your apartment and going grocery shopping. Yes, it's most definitely the real world.
On spring break, you checked things off your list like white water rafting and skydiving, and had a million random heart-to-hearts with your bestie in between. Now that you're working that nine to five life, you can't just take a trip for a week in the middle of March necessarily. And it's up to you to find ways to be spontaneous, despite all the new stress.
With escaping comes effortlessly new surroundings. The people, culture, food — everything's different and it's the refreshing taste away from the real world that you so need by the time midterms have come and gone. Once you hit the real world, you get really used to seeing the same faces every day and settle into a routine. Sure, that's not always so bad, but it's definitely not the inspiration we're constantly looking for.
Especially if you decided to spend your spring break abroad in another country, or checked out a city that's not-so nearby, you probably found all sorts of people who are totally different than the ones you meet on any average day. They all had amazing stories to tell of their own travels, and you even picked up some life advice along the way. What you would do to have that all happen again.
Trying new things is just a part of traveling. No matter where you decide to wander in the world, you have a whole week to get out of your comfort zone — and that's the best place to make memories, after all. Maybe your friends convinced you one year that you should try that really weird seafood dish, or strike up a conversation with a stranger. It wasn't always super wild, but it felt good to branch out a bit.
Sure, you could've stuck the status quo, but what kind of spring break would that be? When you hit the post-grad life and started living by your schedule instead of the amount of sunshine there is in the sky, you would've been wishing you said, "yes" to absolutely every opportunity that came your way. No ragrets, am I right?
If you're not taking a trip, spring break is totally meant for sleeping. A busy semester really takes everything out of you, and sometimes that week is most well spent cuddled up and having a movie marathon. It's like the world knew you'd be tired and that the month of March is already so naturally draining, and so it gave you some time to get off the grid. Once again, what we would give to make adult nap-time a real thing?!
In college, I would always come home from class and knock out on the couch for an hour or so. But, as soon as the working life hit, I had to say goodbye to my daily dose of afternoon sleep. If only the real world understood that kindergarteners aren't the only ones who need a solid nap.
The to-do list in the adult life is always growing. Whether it's your bucket list, dreams you need to follow at some point, or just all of the chores you need to get done this weekend — your mind may get a bit overwhelmed with everything you have going on. You want to spend the time you do get off of work absolutely doing nothing, but then you regret not using it for amazing adventures. Yes, the balance is truly tricky and you stock up bath bombs just in case you ever get the opportunity to soak for way too long.
There's a lot to miss about spring break and college when you go post-grad. But, being able to do absolutely nothing sometimes is truly one of the things we'll always want most. Soak up all that sun, surf, sand, and quality time with your soul sisters while you can. The real world has its perks, too, but few things beat spring break.
