I don’t know about you, but I have never appreciated Fall Break more than I do right now.
Perhaps it was because I went on vacation instead of just going home for the first time in four years. Or perhaps it was because I skipped Vegas and instead went to bed by 11 p.m. for four nights in a row. Or maybe it was because I had a lot of positive interactions that I was not expecting to have… Honestly, though, I think it was because I just really needed a break from Penn.
Over the summer, as I was getting ready to come back to school, my friend who had graduated the year before warned me that senior fall was absolutely the worst time of college. I scoffed at him—nothing could be worse than all of freshman year and fall had always been my favorite semester, so he clearly could not be right.
Guess what? He was right, I was wrong. This semester blows.
But now I finally understand Fall Break. It comes at the perfect time and it forces you to let go—at least temporarily—of at least some of the stressors that have been menacing your weeks leading up to it. Regardless of your year, Penn has a sneaky way of knocking you off your feet and holding you down while you get hit with midterm after midterm or interview after interview. Without Fall Break it would never really stop, and while the break certainly does not do away with any of your deadlines, it does suspend some of your other responsibilities, like that fucking 9 a.m. Psych class in Irving.
Fall Break is a much, much needed reset. I came back from mine more relaxed and in a better mood than I have been for the entire semester (seriously, ask my friends) and it has provided me with a healthy dose of perspective, not just about my relationships but also about how I manage my stress.
So with that, I bring you a very loving, relaxed and happy week from Street. Let’s all come back from Fall Break on a better foot than which we left on.
