Spring break. Most of us know this time as a way to escape… no parents, no responsibilities, nothing but pure bliss. This year, however, things are a bit different. “Pandemic here, pandemic there”, that’s all we hear about, especially in the context of travel, of course it’s true, but it gets to a point where you simply become fatigued by it. What parents, professors, and other none-student adults don’t understand is that we are living what are supposed to be the best years of our lives, yet due to regulations, we can’t enjoy these years. It’s no surprise that many students are trying to find an excuse to find ways around restrictions. It feels like we’re being deprived -of course by no ones’ fault- of what was promised. “Your college years will be the best years of your lives…”, really? Here’s where we come in.
Now, spring break has always been a college students’ favorite time of the year. It’s one of the few chances we have to travel just for the sake of it. Whether to an extravagant vacation to a completely different country, or whether a fun local vacation. Yes, summer breaks and winter breaks are also travel seasons, but we tend to spend those with our families more often than not. Spring break is really defined by traveling with friends, partying, getting to know different cultures, and exploring, going on adventures! Then Covid happened.
Fear not, spring break is still happening for a large portion of students. Our creativity has skyrocketed when it comes to making the most out of the situation we’re in. To state the obvious, students are scrambling to plan a spring break vacation. As, I assume, many have heard, Spain is likely to close borders between communities in order to avoid an accumulation of people in vacation hotspots such as Barcelona, Valencia, Marbella, etc. This hasn’t stopped students from planning trips to these areas. Some have taken into consideration the possibility of leaving to these areas a few days early in order to avoid travel bans.
On the other hand, some students may have more resources available to them that may allow them to travel. For instance, holding more than one passport (from different countries) due to dual citizenships. These students are contemplating going back home, or wherever their passport(s) allow. Although possible for a large portion of students, some are taking it one step further. There are places that have little to no travel restrictions which have become travel hotspots in the past month.
Fun and games aside, whatever we plan, whatever we do, we must remember to be responsible. Take care of those around us, especially if there are any high risk people in our lives. We must also stick to all Covid restrictions wherever we decide to go. Make sure we read entry and exit requirements in any and all places we might go to. In the case where some don’t travel, stay up to date with local covid restrictions. Although we are all trying to figure out the best ways to make the most out of spring break, at the end of the day we are still living in a pandemic and that brings to all of us certain responsibilities we must take into account.
Regardless of what we decide to do for spring break, one thing is certain, nothing is going to stop us from enjoying ourselves during this period. We are creative and resilient, so even with the pandemic and all the restrictions in place, spring break still remains a synonym for fun.
