1. The Friday before.
Wow in 3 hours 47 minutes and 53 seconds it will OFFICIALLY be Spring Break. You’ve only waited for this day since you booked your ski trip/cruise/hotel/beach house last October with your 20 closest friends, and nothing can keep you down, not even the test you have in 45 minutes. When you finally get out of class, you get home and crack open a beer because, hey, it’s Spring Break and you deserve it.
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2. Arriving at your destination.
It’s Saturday afternoon, and you woke up at the ever living crack-of-dawn just so you could maximize the amount of time you spend at wherever it is you’re going. The drive down was filled with obnoxious music, the creation of 100-plus second long SnapChat stories and greasy food from Whataburger. When you eventually get to your destination, you christen the place you will call “home” for the next week by opening the nearest bottle of alcohol. Everyone screams and squeals, and you think, “Wow, I hope this week never ends.”
3. The first night out.
You put on your favorite new top that you bought weeks ago in preparation for this night and blast music as loud as the speakers will let you through your newly christened home. The breaker in the house probably flips because there are so many hairdryers, straighteners and blenders running, but no one even minds the continuous flipping it back and forth because this is about to be the best night of your lives. Everyone takes an honorary tequila shot before you go out to meet the over-eager frat stars that flood whatever local bar you go to. Someone breaks a sandal. Someone throws up. Two people cry. It’s honestly like a bad pop song.
4. The first day.
You wake up way later than you planned and mix a bloody mary to cure whatever is happening with your head. You make everyone else get up and suffer the misery with you. You eventually crawl out to the beach to do exactly what you did the night before — just in daylight.
5. The middle of the week.
By this time, at least two friendships are permanently severed because when you get 20 people together, someone is bound to kiss someone else’s ex-bf/gf. Everyone is tired and probably sunburnt, but yet the party continues. It’s spring break, and you’re not going to let this drama stop you from having fun.
6. The last day.
You’re mildly depressed that it’s your last day, but you don’t let that get you down. You’ve had a week filled with greasy food, sugary drinks and enough alcohol to last you a lifetime. You soak up every last bit of fun that can be had and stay out until at least 6 a.m.
7. The aftermath.
“Who turned on the lights?!” Whoever decided that the 12 p.m. checkout time standard for hotels obviously never went on spring break. It’s 11:52, and you’re frantically throwing all of your stuff in your bag while trying to ignore your pounding headache so that the hotel doesn’t charge you for another night for checking out late. You make it out of there just in time while avoiding eye-contact with the previously mentioned frat stars, and you realize you left your favorite pair of flip flops, your phone charger and your leftover alcohol in the freezer. You win, Spring Break. You win.
8. The drive home.
There’s always that one friend who insists on playing obnoxiously loud music when everyone is hungover and tired. They turn it down just low enough so you can hear the Whataburger drive-thru one last time. The ride home seems excruciatingly long, and you have to ask your friend multiple times to pull over so you can be sick on whatever back road you’re driving on.
9. The recovery stage.
You finally make it back home, and wow does it feel good. You swing by Chick-fil-A or Zaxby’s or wherever because you need one more greasy meal to hold you over. You have exactly 36 hours to catch up on sleep, wash more clothes than you ever thought possible and, oh yeah, do all of the homework you managed to forget about. The rest of your spring break is absolute misery, but it was totally worth it.
10. The Monday after.
You can barely pull your head high enough off of the desk to say, “Here.” The stories are as abundant as the homework, and you can’t believe it went by so quickly. If you’re a senior, you realize that was your last hoorah before graduation. But if you’re lucky enough to be an underclassmen, you think, “I can’t wait to do it all again next year.”
