The 4 Journeys of Spring break

I got to, somehow, take part in the very American tradition, Spring break while studying abroad. People do very different things during this break, ranging from the traditional “Go to Mexico and get drunk”, to the more unconventional “Backpacking across California”, from “Staying at home” to “That tourist with socks in sandals”. Personally I ended up with a combination of the two latter.

Staying home, doing things you have already done is always an option.

Go to Mexico and get drunk

Maybe the most common thing to do during spring break, is to go somewhere far south, like Mexico, and go on a one week long period being continuously drunk. It might not be the most healthy way of spending the spring break, but it does have some benefits. While most of the trip might be a long period of complete blackout, with periods of vague memories in between, it is very visible that you have been on a holiday. You come home with a nice tan, and everyone will compliment you on that tan, ignoring the fact that you gained 10 kilos.

Backpacking across California

This is for the more adventurous. You order a van in California, drive around in whatever national park you can find, because no real plans have been made. Driving around for a week might seem excessive, and you’d think they have some form of Hotel visits during the time, but no, not for this type of gang. Seven days without any proper sanitary conditions, and if you are lucky you get to clean yourself in some local lake. Seven days sleeping in a van way too small for them all, but the closer you are, the better, right? Of course. They don’t come home with a tan, they come home like lobsters, as none of them brought any form of sun lotion and the closest store being miles away. On the plus side, they lost around 15 pounds.

Staying at home

Then you have the group that does pretty much nothing. On a good day some of them might go outside and do a short trip to see things they have already seen several times before, but needs something to kill of the time with. Maybe you even will visit a new museum these days, but never more than a 25 minutes walk away, and taking public transportation becomes too complicated. This group, that I myself was a part of for some time, does not get tan, and their weight stay put for the entire week. Stories are limited to the pictures of the blue skies that hopefully appeared during the time.

That tourist with socks in sandals

Yes, I ended up like this, and I really felt home where I went. You go to one of those places you “have to be seen” in the US. For instance the Niagra Falls. It’s a eight hours drive, but you will pretend it was an entire holiday, and, of course, hide the fact that the Falls were ridiculously disappointing. The nice thing, however, you will feel like you really fit in. Just like all the other people there, you take 300 pictures you want to show to your friends and brag about. You dress as comfortable as possible, without caring what other people think about you and you will most likely come home without any tan, but a postcard and a few pounds extra around your waist.

Fun fact: Verizon Wireless spent 2 700 000 000$ on marketing in 2016, while the main competitor, AT&T spent 3 800 000 000$, T-mobile spent 1 700 000 000$ and Sprint 1 100 000 000$. The marketing budget of the four national American wireless would account for about 7,5% of the entire Norwegian State Budget.