Spring Breaking at Tufts
The spring semester is gruelling. It's cold, the days are short, and the workload intense. But then, at the end of March, there's a glorious week when every student sits back and takes a well deserved break. By Friday, most of campus is deserted as Jumbos head to vacation spots around the country, but a few remain, holding up the fort. Last spring break and part of this one, I was one of the rare students left, and I loved it. Sure, I'm not in Florida with my toes in the sand, but I get to walk to the shower naked without worrying that anyone will see me, and that's priceless. But that's not all! Here are a few things that makes a Spring Break staycation so great.
1) Walking around naked
Oh, already mentioned that one. Oops.
2) Visiting Boston
Because we go to the most awesome school ever (and for other reasons), Tufts students get in free to the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston. The school affiliated with the museum, the SMFA, actually became a part of Tufts when it was incorporated under the university umbrella just last year. Regardless, before this week, I'd never actually visited the MFA, which, I'll admit, is dumb on my part. This break gave me a chance to haul my sorry body to the museum and spend hours on end drinking in amazing art. After getting over my own lameness and becoming a tourist in my own city, I'm just prouder to call Boston home.
3) Exploring other universities
Boston is America's college town, but it's easy to get caught up in the Tufts bubble, because everything you need is right around you. Nonetheless, between parties at Harvard, ice skating at MIT and meetings with old friends at Northeastern, this break has proved to be much more adventuresome than 90% of my semester so far. The number of colleges in the Boston area is actually one of the reasons why I chose Tufts, and it's nice to really venture out into the world and remind myself of that.
4) Sleeping in
Lemme just start by saying that I haven't woken up before 11 am since the beginning of break. I've stayed up late watching Netflix and playing cards, and taken a good hour to actually get up every single morning. Not needing to get up and do things is a wonderful, underrated aspect of life, and feeling like I'm 100% rested when I wake up is something that the last few months have been sorely devoid of.
5) Cooking
Tufts dorms were not created equal. Some are better, some are worse, but all have adequate working kitchens. During Thanksgiving and Spring Breaks, the dining halls on campus are closed, so it's up to those that stay to fend for themselves (although Tufts does provide meal subsidies in some financial aid packages). Since Tufts guarantees housing for the first two years of college only, most students move off-campus at the beginning of their junior year. Staying in a dorm with a kitchen during your first two years allows you to attempt cooking before you have to be a real adult. After countless cuts and a couple less-than-perfect meals, I'm actually starting to get the hang of the whole food thing, which is comforting since I will be moving into my own house in a couple months.
The first time I realized that I was going to be staying at Tufts while everyone else went on trips, I wallowed in self-pity. Now, I love the opportunity to stay on the quiet campus, relaxing and resting and truly making the most out of the short time of respite from classes. Tufts is home, and home is wicked nice.