One year. It has been almost an entire year since the beginnings of quarantine. In case you don’t recall, we all had entered spring break when we were hit with the order to stay at home. With this came a lot of gloom, especially because of one thing: people’s plans for the spring break were completely thrown out the window. Plans to travel, visit family, or simply hang out with friends were just… gone. 

However, with spring break coming back around a year later, we are now freer to go out, roam, travel and explore (socially distanced and with a mask of course). Although we still face a strange situation today, students are once again able to plan events for this year’s spring break that they had to question last year. Now that we can go out and about for our break, the only question is, what do students plan on doing this year?

For some, spring break is a time when they are finally able to travel again and just have some fun! Brothers Daniel and Elijah (sophomore and junior respectively) plan on travelling to Georgia for their spring break. When I asked why they chose Georgia specifically, Daniel replied that he didn’t know, but regardless of the reason would be taking the time to relax.

Others are also travelling, but for additional reasons besides rest and relaxation. Senior Allie Kim plans on travelling up to the University of Michigan for a college visit with her family. She’ll also be stopping by Chicago as well to spend some time in the city. However, she mentioned that the trip would still not be a normal one due to their concerns of COVID-19.  

Rather than to just take a vacation, students are also planning to use spring break as extra time to prepare and participate in clubs or activities outside of school. Freshman Andrea Li has plans to stay in Chicago over the break to prepare for a badminton sectional that she’ll participate in near the end of the month. Wish her good luck if you get the chance!

Although many people have plans to travel and go out once again, there are of course still many who’d rather stay in. For instance, Michael Li (junior) plans on simply getting in some rest & relaxation over the break at his home. Michael mentioned that he doesn’t usually do much during the break, even in a normal year and often simply takes the time to unwind. Similarly, Sophomore Janaki also plans to relax at home but says that she will be attending a Model UN conference online. In this case, it seems that many will also continue to take the time to keep up activities virtually and online.

Despite all of this, a clear and large majority plan on staying in for the break because of COVID-19, a completely understandable reason. Many of the responses I heard back from shared that they had no plans because of COVID-19. One such response came from a former Uni student Andrew Chun (transferred) in which he mentioned that his family wanted to maintain social distancing during the vacation, even if the situation is no longer as severe.

Regardless of the current situation in the world today, it seems that at least one thing is kind of returning to normal: how we spend our vacations. Though everything isn’t quite the same as it used to be, in comparison to the way we spent spring break last year, it seems that people have a lot more hopeful and exciting plans to take a second and relax. Have a good rest of the quarter and have a fun spring break!