Spring break is over. We are finally getting back into the swing of school work, and yet everywhere we look, we are bombarded by reminders that we are very nearly the only university with such a ludicrously early spring break. Everyone on TV seems to be in some tropical location, and don’t even think about logging onto Facebook because the statuses of all of your friends will be bragging about their amazing vacations in the sun while we are walking to class on a campus that the hotter temperatures seem to transform into a brick oven.
This sad picture could be improved with a change in the way our breaks are chosen. If we could delay our break a week or so to match up with most of the other major universities, then we could have more fun on break and have a break that is less reminiscent of winter break and more like a sunny summer vacation.
As much as I know I would hate waiting longer than I absolutely had to for my spring break bliss, I think we can all agree that anticipation is definitely a lot of the fun of any break and that delaying something you are looking forward to (so long as you don’t get hit by an aggressive Wolfline bus before you can skip town) can actually enhance your enjoyment of it.
Naturally, I assume that the reason we are burdened by an intensely early spring break is that some big wig really likes to ski or play outdoor hockey or curl (if anyone actually does curling outside of the winter Olympics). Please, important person, do us all a favor and branch out into the wide world of summer sports.
Even if the powers that be can’t give up their icy adventures in favor of something a bit more “spring” and a little less winter, I think that just making them consistent across the system would be a huge improvement. As much as I love my school, I’d appreciate the opportunity to go on vacation with friends from other schools and I know that this year in particular the timing of our break ruined a lot of plans for a lot of people.
I can understand that the University is worried about budget cuts and a million other things and that they probably don’t consider the timing of breaks to be of paramount importance, but how hard would it be to call up a few schools and agree on a week? Right now N.C. State is kind of the rebel loner, taking breaks when we want like a majestic lone wolf with no friends. But in all seriousness, could we please just be lemmings and pick the week everyone else is picking? Everyone else is doing it, Calendar Committee, don’t you want to be popular?
If my schoolyard taunting won’t work then please let my honest entreaty soften your hearts. I know that when our breaks are is of little concern to people whose focus is on educating us, but to us it’s an important part of our experience and we’d love to be able to share it with our friends in the sun.
