Hey Yale 2014! I am writing this blog inside the Fort Lauderdale Airport, after a relaxing four day vacation with my family. We left two days after Christmas and flew into the Miami area, stayed one night, and then drove the entire length of the Keys. I had a very different picture of what the Florida Keys were before I got there. I think I had more of a Bahamas in mind. The Keys are actually a string of islands that never quite left that area of fifties roadside kitsch, essentially a classical Main Street America strip lined with beaches. Once I got used to the quaint wackiness of it all I enjoyed it. I was able to snorkel for the first time, eat conch fritters and exhaustively pursue Key Lime Pie. One down side was the weather is a bit breezy for laying out on the beach without many layers.
Required food group in the Keys.
For my family, this vacation would not have happened on a traditional high school holiday break. Most likely, you were let out the 21st of December and have to be right back after New Year’s, probably the fourth. The perk of being a college student at Yale is that Winter Break is about a month in length. This allows not only time for your family, but the chance to entertain ideas of trips, and of course loafing around your house as well.
Every other year for me has been playing the fall finals game and getting home as early as possible. My last blog mentioned my fanaticism for Christmas, and that sentiment at school has always meant I am chomping at the bit to fly home on the first or second finals day. Sophomore year I left so quickly I kept getting called by people in my college about hanging out. I had to explain to them I had already left. A little off-tangent, but freshman year I overslept my Connecticut Limo and had a great time paying the 200 charge off. This is my junior year, and I actually was able to take my holiday blinders off and realize that I had a couple of days to spare before heading home. This is also because of an odd layout of the Yale Calendar, where my last final was on the 15th. Instead of flying home, I went to visit my good friend Lauren at her home in Westchester.
Nothing is stranger than leaving college in a car when you are accustomed to flying. One minute I am standing in the Stiles Courtyard, the next I am in her Jeep on the highway. No shuttle, no baggage security, all very unsettling to me. Lauren found this funny, because she is so spoiled in her short commute. (You may think you want to be as far as possible for college from your parents but you will miss dinner and laundry, believe me). Lauren and I relaxed in her house and the next day did a Girl’s day in New York City. We had tea, shopped and saw Next to Normal, a really moving Broadway musical. I flew out to Chicago the next day.
The days up to and on Christmas are a blur, a mish mash of seeing every friend you can, furiously shopping for gifts you have not bursared, and cramming all of your holiday traditions into three or so days. Christmas Eve I opened presents, Christmas Day I opened presents, and I then flew down to Florida to tan my face (not) for New Year’s. New Year’s will be fun, as I am staying Chicago and celebrating with high school friends.
While the days after New Year’s for me will be devoted to a tour of my friends at Big 10 schools, I have started saving for a Yale tradition that I unfortunately am missing this year. Each year the Yale Alpine Skiing Team coordinates a 100 person ski trip to Tremblant, Quebec for Yale students. It is pricey, but it is a week of relaxed ski lodge time with your Yale friends and gives you the ability to meet others. Several of my close friends are going, including my friend Sara that I visited in Miami. I have a whole year to save the money, and I will definitely be there the next year. You may think that your school breaks may be boring after time at college, but they actually can turn into a lot of fun events jammed into one month.
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