After stressing through finals this past week, I will enjoy my last official spring break as a college student when the quarter ends tomorrow. I’ve been in school almost my entire life so spring break has been a yearly tradition for roughly 16 years. Life as a student will soon come to an end, including all school related activities, which made me think about how I want to close out my last few months at Cal State East Bay.

Also known as “March break” and “mid-term break,” spring break is a tradition among universities and schools. The academic holiday can be celebrated with trips, annual spring break festivals, nightclub parties, beach activities and other types of fun things. I’ve never done anything exciting in the past such as go on a trip because I either didn’t have any money, my friends were busy or just didn’t want to do anything major.

This year won’t be any different. I don’t get paid vacation from my job, so I will be working. But I will definitely enjoy having the week away from school. This spring break will be strategically planned to pack in all the things I want and need to do before the month ends and school starts again.

The first day of my break I plan to have a graduation photoshoot, courtesy of my good friend Aundrea. If you are decent with a camera then it’s worth it to take original pictures than go to an expensive photo studio. I am going to wear a nice spring dress and take pictures that I will put into my graduation announcements, send to family and stick on my grandmother’s refrigerator of graduates. I plan to do the photoshoot first because I want my hair to look it’s best before I sweat out my press — hair straightening for rough or kinkier hair textures — when I go dancing later on in the week.

The next couple of days I will have lunch dates with friends I haven’t had the chance to hang out with due to having no life because of my school work load. This will most likely consist of dinner at a restaurant, cocktails and window shopping. Some of my friends are in school as well or working full-time, everyone is busy so to be able to schedule some time out for laughs and good company is a treat for me.  

Somewhere in the week I have to finish writing and preparing all my materials for the internships I am applying for. This means editing my resume, writing cover letters, making sure I have my letters of recommendations, filling out online applications and mailing them in.

The weekend will be dedicated to dancing and drinking with my co workers after work at Pappy’s, a cool bar in Berkeley. The next night I will go out and dance with a few of my close friends I’ve known since high school. I will close out the week with a chill movie night with my mom before my last quarter starts at CSUEB.

As I reflect on the few months left before I graduate, I realize the little things I never cared about while in college and how soon life will change.

As a commuter that lives about 40 minutes off campus, I never felt really connected to my school or tried to keep in touch with many of the people I’ve met. It’s only now that I am thinking about all the things I am going to miss about being a student.

Spring break has always been one of the highlights of the school year and a break from stressful classes and homework.

It was a time to relax and enjoy life before going back to the school flow and it was something constant in my life for years.

Apart from a few internships I plan to get, I don’t know how my life will play out down the line and I’m a little nervous about the unknown.

With this being my last spring break as a student, I want to enjoy it to the fullest.