Spring Break is commonly associated with trips to Ft. Lauderdale, Panama City Beach and Miami, Florida, but there are so many other ways students spend their breaks.
While many Bobcats did indulge in the expected Florida Spring Break party scenes in major destinations, many chose to spend their time in more relaxing settings.
Keaton Carpenter, a freshman studying health administration, and Taylor Sanzo, a freshman studying communication sciences and disorders, took to a more chill beach town: Melbourne, Florida, with six other friends.
The group of both Ohio University and Ohio State University students flew to Melbourne, which is located southeast of Orlando. They stayed in a home that was purchased as a rental property by Sanzo’s parents.
“Going out to dinner the last night, and watching my friend Olivia get a tattoo (were the highlights of the trip for me),” Sanzo said.
Less favorably, the Spring Breakers suffered various injuries from the sun during their stay.
“No one took my advice to wear sunscreen, so Keaton and Chloe both got very burnt,” Sanzo said.
Carpenter said he particularly suffered from too much sun due to a mistake in his utilizing sunscreen.
“Don’t forget to put sunscreen on your feet,” Carpenter said.
In a less warm climate, before heading off to the Florida beaches and acquiring sunburns, the group attended the Blake Shelton Concert at Nationwide Arena in Columbus.
“It was awesome, he sang the song we requested through Instagram DMs that he hasn’t performed live in over a decade,” Sanzo said. “It’s the saddest song he has ever written, (‘The Baby’).”
The rest of the concert was just as captivating for the Shelton fans.
“I liked the end the best, when he sang ‘God’s Country,’” Carpenter said. “I was just emotional. There was a lot of energy in that stadium, and it just gets to you.”
Many other students tend to travel back to their hometowns for break, which is exactly what Yashvita Kanuganti, a freshman studying linguistics and religious studies•, did.
“(I) went thrifting one day, that was good, went to the lake … and just slept, to be honest,” Kanuganti said.
Kanuganti’s mom really enjoys cooking traditional cuisine. She prepared Pav Bhjai, a bread and potato dish, along with other dishes for the family.
She stayed in Cleveland for about a week before heading back to Athens to catch up on work and prepare for the remainder of the semester.
While Kanuganti did spend a small portion of their break in Athens, many students, especially those hailing from other states, stayed close by for the entirety of their academic break.
Joi Foy, a sophomore studying journalism, remained on campus all week. She serves as a resident assistant and spent her break working extra duty shifts and taking time off from the busy semester thus far.
“Honesty, I just took it as time to decompress,” Foy said. “I’m really busy during the semester so I just took time to catch up on Netflix shows and sleep.”
Foy is completely occupied while classes are in session, not only with her full course-load, but also with her leadership roles on campus. In addition to being an RA, Foy sits as the president of the Black Student Communication Caucus, the vice president of Ebony Minds, the public relations chair for the Association of Multicultural Sports Professionals and the president of the Multicultural Student Organization Coalition.
“Those keep me going all year round,” Foy said. “I am really heavily involved in the multicultural community.”
Foy decided to do her relaxing on campus because she is an out-of-state student.
“Flights are really high right now for me,” Foy said. “To travel to Alabama there are no direct flights. It would have been around $500 to $700 for me to fly home, and I am in this kind of 'save-money' mode right now.”
She said she missed the opportunity to see her family, but in the end, it was the best personal decision.
“The school year is about to end, I think I can make it another month,” Foy said.
Whether students elected to travel to unfamiliar destinations, found themselves back in the comfort of their own homes, stayed with friends in theirs or remained at their home-away-from-home on campus, the break provided time to check out of the academic grind.
Classes resume Monday, March 20, and will run for just over one month until April 28.
With fest and finals seasons approaching along with spring weather, Athens is sure to be a busy return for students.
kb1533621@ohio.edu
