This year Covid-19 has taken a lot of things from all college students across the world. New classroom regulations, mask mandates, less breaks, restricted athletics, limited travel, etc. The list goes on and on, but what does it mean for the upcoming spring break?
As most of you know Spring Break consists of college students traveling to somewhere warm with their groups of friends. Activities include: soaking up the sun, absolutely relaxing, letting loose, and taking their minds off of, yet another stressful semester. Except this year there is a bit of an issue…WE’RE IN A PANDEMIC! So what are college students going to do on a break that won’t ever live up to the hype that it once had?
Here at Morningside College, plenty of students have expressed their disappointing plans for the academic break. Jacob Bottom said, “I’ll be working every single day and playing Xbox just like every other day off.” Emma Endrulat said, “I might go visit my boyfriend for a couple of days, but otherwise I need to work and save up for my new tattoo.” After these responses I thought about reaching out to my friend who always travels to see if that would still be in her cards this year. She said, “Don’t get me wrong flights are cheap right now, but I just don’t think being on a super packed beach with strangers is a good idea.”
I was glad to hear her concerns for her health and others, but it still lead me to wonder if all students considered staying put or not. My friend Courtney from the University of Iowa said, “My family always loves going on vacation during Spring Break, but because of financial issues due to the pandemic they couldn’t even afford to go this year.” Everyone I seemed to talk to didn’t have any big traveling plans at all. It was kind of shocking how our world has seemed to be turned upside down in the last year or so.
This year Spring Break seems like less of a break and more of a time period to work even harder to gain financial support for whatever corona virus brings next. So much for relaxation.