Fourth-year College student Cavan Doyle is not getting any homework accomplished over Spring Break. Instead, she is doing something she finds much more worthwhile - traveling to Milan, Italy and Paris, two cities she never has visited before. Doyle has been planning her trip for some time and got her airplane tickets in November. She flies alone, but is meeting up with an Italian friend who lives in Milan who she became acquainted with two years ago during a summer volunteer program in Kenya.
Doyle said they are staying in Milan for a few days then both going to Paris for three more days. Regarding her plans in Paris, Doyle said, "I don't even know! I feel like there is so much to do. I just want to walk around and look at everything and be in awe and just enjoy myself.
"I'm not even bringing books," she added with a smile.
Fourth-year Engineering student Matthew Varthalamis has planned a Spring Break road trip with a twist. He is driving to Atlanta with four other members of 1-in-4, an all-male group focused on teaching other males how to support women who are victims of sexual assault or rape. There, they will give presentations to students at Emory and Georgia Tech on how to form their own 1-in-4 programs.
"Last semester I came up with the idea of taking the program on the road," Varthalamis said. "This semester people kept asking me, 'Are you going to do it?' So I said, 'I guess I'll have to follow through.'"
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The group will pack their 1-in-4 shirts and tell students at each school about how the program works and let them ask questions.
"It's hard to describe what we do until you've seen our program," Varthalamis said. "Our hope is that they will want to start a chapter at these schools."
Varthalamis said he hopes the trip, which has been dubbed "1-in-4's Alternative Spring Break," will become a regular part of the program's activities.
"It will hopefully become a tradition," Varthalamis said. "One of the original visions of the program was that it would be able to spread out this way."
Although the most desirable Spring Break plans frequently include the beach, the sun and a pina colada, the weeklong break isn't always about tanning and partying. For second-year College student Caroline Grummon, a paintbrush, spackle, hammer and nails will frequent her Spring Break scene. After an enormous cookie bake and a number of other fundraisers, Grummon and a group of students from the Wesley Foundation, a ministry of the United Methodist church, are flying to Mexico to take part in a weeklong service project. The students will help construct the new upper level of a pre-school in Cortazar, Mexico. Although Grummon may not return to the University with that sought-after tan, she will return with the satisfaction of knowing that she helped to establish a better educational facility for the pre-school's 86 little children.
Fourth-year College student David Tyndall is planning to commune with wildlife on his spring break. Tyndall and a few friends are heading to New River Gorge, W.Va., for the beginning of break to do a little camping. Tyndall said that while he doesn't have a lot of experience camping, he is really excited about the trip.
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"I've been once before in the Shenandoah Valley and that was really fun," he said. "I really want to get out there and fell a tree, or build a fire or climb a mountain."
However, Tyndall is a little concerned about the bears.
"There are lots of bears out there, so we'll have to put our food up into the trees," he said. "Hopefully it won't get too cold, and hopefully I won't be mauled by a bear. We're a bunch of college kids who are going out into the wilderness and hoping we don't die. It's going to be really exciting."
With a list of destinations like St. Marten's, St. Thomas, St. John's and a private island in the Bahamas, fourth-year Nursing student Rachel Dean's Spring Break cruise promises to be one she'll always remember. Even more amazing than the destinations, however, may be the price -- the trip is only $500.
"We got on the Internet and looked through a bunch of different cruise sites," Dean said. "The price doesn't include air fare, but our air fare wasn't that bad either."
Dean and her friends, some of whom will be enjoying their last Spring Break, have been looking forward to the cruise all semester.
"This semester has been pretty tough for all of us," Dean said. "Every day we keep saying, 'Do you know what we're going to be doing this time next week?'"
The group looks forward to being able to relax on their trip.
"We're planning on doing some snorkeling, possibly even diving since I've done it once before," Dean said. "Maybe a little bit of shopping, a little but of gambling, just in the slot machines, but definitely relaxing."
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For many fourth years, this Spring Break will be particularly memorable as their last chance for a mid-season vacation. Fourth-year College student Paige Schaffter and about 14 of her friends are celebrating the occasion by taking a massive road trip together. The group, who all lived together in Maupin their first year and most of whom live together now, will take at least three cars when they leave Saturday morning. Their first stop is a beach house in Duck, N.C., near Nags Head.
Plans for the road, Schaffter said, include counting "south of the border" signs and playing traditional car games. Their next stop is Savannah, Ga., for St. Patrick's Day to see the Savannah River dyed green.
"We'll probably all go to Beach Week together, but this is our big group Spring Break trip," Schaffter said. "It's a last hurrah."
Schaffter emphasized the value of being with friends on Spring Break, especially for the last time.
"It doesn't really matter where you go for Spring Break," Schaffter said. "It matters who you go with.
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