Spring break! A whole week away from rubrics, multiple revisions of essays, midterm anxiety, and the famous two words that rule your life: class prep.
But do OHSers really use this time to relax and step away from the screens? Maybe there are some sneaky high-functioning vacationers amongst us who carry their laptops around beaches or those who love catching up on assigned reading from the comfort of their own bed. Then there are also those who want to bury their graphing calculator in the backyard for a week.
A survey of OHSers revealed some interesting things about how many of us choose to spend our much-needed unstructured time.
OHSers like Jeremy Xie (‘30) want to honor the true holiday spirit of the teenage years: a contemplative, food-driven recovery from the midterm-induced stress of the weeks leading up to spring break. Any plan which has time blocks saved for a large, sumptuous sandwich and food-induced inertia is bound to deliver on the promise of the perfect holiday experience.
Others like Teresa He (‘28) are brave enough to actually head for the mountains. Teresa plans to visit the mountains surrounding Beijing and hike the Great Wall. But since her “definite priority is reading”, Teresa also wants to reread the Harry Potter series and conduct research for her own novel, letting her mind chase what she cares about, all at her own pace.
Emma Griffith (‘28) is planning the ideal sensory sanctuary: the sun, her dogs, lemon ice cream, writing, reading and sleeping. She hopes to finish the page-turner, The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller. Griffith suggests, “Everyone should learn how to take a break. Take advantage of a whole week of it!”
Another OHSer’s plans are a little more Olympian in nature. Annabelle Sue Kohaus’ (‘31) itinerary involves a flight to Denver, a three-hour drive to Steamboat, followed by four days of ski practice. Kohaus leaves no room for negotiation when asked about whether students need to study over the break. She insists that studying during spring break isn’t unnecessary, it is a fatal error. “Holidays are for taking your load off”, she says.
You may decide to fling those Calculus notes at the back of your closet and decide to ace something you’ve had your heart set on or you may decide to just indulge yourself to a well-deserved break.
What we want to do, where to go, what to read, how much to deliberately accomplish, are all choices we are free to make. At the end of the day it’s just a holiday and perhaps the only activity that matters is the one that involves a nap. What do you think?
How do you plan to spend spring break?
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