During college I generally would work all summer and save my $$$ and then spend it during the rest of the year, as well as having a relatively low-paying on-campus job.
By the time that Spring Break rolled around, I was usually low enough on cash that the choice was to have a relatively good time for the next 2.5-3 months, or blow it all on one single week of booze-fueled debauchery.
I had plenty of booze-fueled fun, although a lot less debauchery than I cared for. I always wonder if I’d have hooked up much, or if it would have been the same old shit, just somewhere else.
Had I known what Mardi Gras was really all about in college, I’d have been there every year though… didn’t end up going until 2002.
Thinking of my own Spring Breaks as a university student in Canada, it’s not Fort Lauderdale or Cancun; it’s skiing. The Rockies if possible; if not, it’s Quebec or Ontario ski resorts.
Yes, but keep in mind that what most people call “the greatest Spring Break ever!” I call “some Tuesday”.
Technically I went on Spring Break four times:
Junior year in Panama City Beach - Three carloads of my fraternity brothers drove down to Florida to meet up with another half dozen of these Jersey Shore style guido dudes my roomate knew from home.
Senior year in South Padre - A smaller group of about 5 of us.
The Bahamas in my early 30s - Basically the conversation with my girlfriend went something like this:
Me: Huh..That’s weird. That MTV Spring Break show is in the same place Matt planned our “professional men’s gettaway” trip.
GF: That’s because you are going on Spring Break
Me: That’s absurd, Spring Break isn’t until…
GF: Two weeks from now When your trip is planned.
Me: That’s ridiculous. We’re in our 30s. Matt wouldn’t plan some sort of Old School style Spring Break vaca…God damn it…
GF: I’m sure the girls will be impressed by your “retro” Club Spinnaker Panama City Beach Spring Break '96 T-shirt.
And most recently a few years back, one of my friends had a bachelor party in Vegas that lasted about a week and happened to coincide with NCAA March Madness (actually that was planned), St Pattrick’s Day and Spring Break. It was a pretty drunken week.
Really? Because that sounds awesome! (maybe not the rape part)
After freshman year (college, not hs) a buddy and I drove down to Panama City Beach and were beach bums for a week. Actually we blew most of our hotel money on a really fancy time share for the first two nights, then were relegated to a dingy $19/night motel for the rest of the time. We still had our timeshare wristbands though, so we were able to use the pool, etc.
Then before senior year, a car load of guys drove down to Panama City Beach and spent the week whooping it up. Drank a lot, spent every night dancing and drinking Spinnakers or La Vela, smoked a couple cartons of cigarettes, parasailed, got pierced, but oddly, no one hooked up. Not odd that I didn’t, but odd that none in my group did.
I went to Florida once with two of my sorority sisters and two of their friends. I don’t even remember if it was Daytona or Fort Lauderdale. The weather wasn’t very warm, but at least it wasn’t Ohio. I wasn’t much of a drinker, so mostly it was a week of walking up and down the beach in jeans and a shirt, because it was too cold for a bathing suit, and going in bars at night and drinking endless quantities of Tab and one or two beers a night. It was not memorable.
At UCSD, in the late 1970s, spring break was just the week between winter and spring quarters. Some people did make a trip down to Mazatlan or Rosarito during that week, but it wasn’t something that was universally expected or even hoped for. It wasn’t like people would automatically ask what you were doing for spring break, because most of the students just went home for the week. We had to pack out of the dorms completely even though it was just a week, because the uni hosted conventions and camps and needed the rooms.
One reason for this apparent lack of interest might well be that this is San Diego we’re talking about. We didn’t have to go someplace else to dust off the snow.
Actually, once a semester the Anthropology Society would tak a field trip. That was always during regular sessions and not school breaks. Sometimes it even counted as extra credit for Anthro courses. I did go on many of those, and we’d have what probably came close to a “spring break experience.” This is how I first became familiar with the wonders of northern New Mexico. The vast majority of trips were to there due to proximity, but one time we did go into Mexoco itself.
I went to college during the 70’s, and the future Mizpullin and I spent the majority of our time on Greek row, but neither of us remember any Spring Break trips. I don’t think the custom had really caught on then.
I have kids of “that age” (so to speak). Only one of them has approximated the traditional SB trip (went to Cancun with some friends in high school). Otherwise their time is consumed by work and/or school.
I lived in a Spring break destination so yeah! er really no. Ok so maybe as teens we did pile into Christine (a huge green fleetwood caddie) to go cruising on the strip.
We’d cajole/steal beers from frat boys and laugh at their pukng antics. The noise te crowds, the lights it was lke carnival. But really it was a mess…those out of towners had no idea how bad it could get.More than a little seedy, lots of predators mingling in the crowds, homeless street kids in the shadows, purveyors of porn trying to get girls to sign up for 'modeling" or “the movies”. shocking the first time, it opened my eyes as a kid.
I was 22 when I went to college, having lived on my own for 3 years, and maybe that perspective made me uninterested in traveling to get drunk. I didn’t, and still don’t, like being around people who overindulge. Frankly, for me, spring break was a week to relax and not have to deal with a 7:30 AM lab.
Yup… Ft. Lauderdale '83 or so. Several of us piled into a car and drove from Indiana to Southern FL. Stayed in a seedy place a half block from the beach. Wet T-shirt contests at the Candy Store (big party bar), Penthouse Pets strutting on the beach, drinking more than a person should in a lifetime.
Our proudest moment was when we went to a bar that was featuring free (or maybe $0.10) drinks the NEXT night. We treated our waitress very well and tipped her generously… we also met the manager. They told us the next night would be a zoo but to let them know when we got there. We arrived and the place was packed… we found our waitress, and surprise… there was a reserved table for us. Everyone else was fighting for drinks, and we had tray after tray brought to our table. We met tons of people because we could get them drinks. It was fun to be a celebrity if only for one night at a spring break bar.
The memories are fun, but you couldn’t pay me enough to do it again now.
I did the Fort Lauderdale thing back in the '88 when it was still big. We were there for 2 or 3 days of the American break and the whole Canadian break. Had an awesome time!
Did Cancun with a girlfriend, more of a romantic trip… it sucked… broke up as soon as we got back.
Went to Acapulco twice, the first with 9 guys, awesome time.
The next year we convinced about 45 people to go back with us, and had the best time ever. The hotel and bar staff remembered us from the previous year. We were all older mature students who were friendly, tipped well, and weren’t out of control.
Between the people who came with us, friends we met at the hotel, on the beach, in the bars, etc… we had a huge social circle and took over any place we all went to. It was great!
