The University of Richmond Collegian 03/09/95

Staff Editorial

by Jeffrey Carl, Opinion Editor

What We Think

an Opinion from the Collegian Staff

“Spring Break”

We don’t know about you, but we here at The Collegian are pretty ready for spring break just about now.

Spring break is an essential part of every college student’s life. It plays a crucial role in college stress management. It give students a time to rest and recuperate. It gives teachers a time to curse themselves for having assigned the papers that they are now grading. It gives the Physical Plant time to do all the fun things they can’t do while students are around, like hold monster go-cart rallies and play mulch tag.

Every student needs some time for R&R, so to speak. You may be a budding campus leader and need the time away from endless cycle of classes, meetings and extracurricular activities. You may be a budding goofus and need time away from your constant viewing of the O.J. Simpson trial on “E!” Either way, you need the time off. Recent studies show that if you don’t get a one-week break after midterms, your brain will explode.

Spring break is a vast historical tradition. The first recorded spring break was taken by the Roman Emperor Nero in A.D. 66, when he went to the Lupercal festival in Old Orleans. True, by the time he came back, most of the rickety wooden architecture had burned to the ground in a great fire which lasted three days and sparked riots where hundreds of Christians were tortured and killed. But the point is that he was much more relaxed about it.

If you’re going to one of the spring break “hot spots,” mix it up with students from other schools. Meet new people. Encounter new life experiences. Catch new diseases that, darn it, you just can’t get here. If you’re going to Acapulco, don’t drink the water.

If you’re going somewhere out-of-the-way, perhaps to visit a friend or even go camping, savor your time away from the grind. Revel in the fact that, at the very least, no one is going to get national televised coverage of you throwing up at the “MTVBeach House ‘95.”

Even if you aren’t going somewhere exotic for your break – for example, going home to New Jersey – you can still have a good time unwinding. Become more in touch with your television. Watch foreign language channels and make up your own translations. Learn to build ships in those little bottles. Irritate your parents so much they’re glad to pay for your education and get you the hell out of there.

So enjoy your spring break. It’s a grand old tradition, and for we seniors it’s our last week-long break before the six-month break of unemployment. But be careful out there. And just relax, okay?