Spring Break vacation fantasies are hard when you’re a college student with a budget. (401(K) 2012/Flickr Creative Commons)
Most commuters don’t live at home, I assume. I hope to be like that one day, but right now my only option is to bum off my parents until I graduate. Guess how my spring break was spent?
In all honesty, I was at home for very little of it, due to work. It was a 9-to-5 grind every day, and evenings were spent with my boyfriend. I came home to sleep and left for work the next morning.
I like to imagine I went somewhere amazing for break, though. “I vacationed up in New Hampshire and you wouldn’t believe how the snow looked on all the pine trees. True, I was stuck in my room most of my stay, but watching the snowfall from the large windows of the hotel was a majesty unlike any other.”
Maybe I went somewhere warm. “The beaches of Florida were phenomenal; the sand was so warm against my bare feet, and the rush of people everywhere was its own type of thrill. I spent all my time laying on a towel, letting the sun soak into me, almost reaching my bones.”
What if I went somewhere foreign, like England. “You wouldn’t believe England at this time of year. The scenery was so beautiful, but so were the people. And their accents—my goodness—it’s like no matter what they’re saying to you, it just sounds astounding.”
These are all fantasies, of course. I’ve never been outside of New England, but would like to one day. I think my biggest obstacle when it comes to traveling is practicality. I have responsibilities to the company I work for and the school I’m attending. I considered studying abroad, but then I got an internship. I was planning on going south for a week in the summer, but the cost of everything started eating at me. I could use that money for books or towards tuition payments.
I know, that’s an uncommon thought in most college students’ minds (if it ever even pops up), but I never thought I would be like most college students anyway. I don’t get help from my parents to pay for anything I get in life. I live at home for free, which saves me a ton of money, but everything having to do with my car and school is paid for by me. So a nice vacation means sacrifice. Currently, I’m not willing to sacrifice much, but I hope to get to a point where I can.
It’d be nice to not worry about how I’ll pay for everything. It’d be nice to be carefree, watching the snowfall instead of watching my budget.
Hannah Desrosiers is a campus correspondent for The Daily Campus. She can be reached via email at hannah.desrosiers@uconn.edu.
