By Karlee Rindt

Spring Break: The time to leave this very cold and depressing state known as Illinois and travel to a warm, exotic, fun-filled place. It’s what you’ve been waiting for since January. You’ve daydreamed about it in class, planned out what each day will bring, imagined how tan you will become in a week, and have mentally prepared yourself for a very relaxing week.

Eventually, the time winds down and you are in your last week of school before break. Every day seems slower and slower as you eagerly await the clock to strike 2:30 pm on Friday. Then before you know it you’re on your way to Florida, California, or Hawaii,  to have the best week. You spend your days laying in sun, swimming in the ocean or pool, seeing amazing views, and wishing you could stay there forever.

Then, unfortunately, the week comes to an end and it’s time to pack up and come home. It’s time to come back to this ridiculous cold state and the overwhelmingly stressful load of work Batavia High School brings. It’s almost as if going to school has never been worse. Your daily routine, whatever it may be, is a huge struggle to return to.

The question that is never asked because it’s unimaginable to think is, was it worth it? Was it worth it to travel far away to a warm and fun-filled state if returning to reality is this awful? Would it be easier to come back if I hadn’t allowed myself to enjoy my time away so much? As I came back from my spring break trip to Florida, these are the questions that immediately poured into my head as I returned to school that Tuesday. I wondered if I was the only one thinking these things, so I took matters into my own hands and asked a few friends, who traveled to warm places, the same question.

I asked if they felt as though their happiness has decreased and stress increased since they came back from spring break. The responses I received were not shocking. Brooke Meyer and Ellie Moonshower answered this question with a response similar to mine.  Then both said yes.

“It is definitely more stressful coming back then before you left,” Meyer said. “You go from being able to do your own things on your own time and then come right back into a set schedule. I feel so stressed coming back and trying to remember what I learned the week before. I miss the warm weather and being carefree.”

Moonshower did not have a much different response.

“Yes it is a lot harder coming back after a whole week of no obligations or responsibilities and then trying to finish two months of school, without letting your grades slip,” she said.

The sad truth about spring break is that it makes the next couple weeks of coming back to reality extremely more difficult than before. It makes you crave summer and the carefree life that comes with it. On top of the workload piled up in front of you, the cold weather does not make it any easier. The cold coops people up inside and leaves little room for adventure.

So was spring break worth it? Moonshower and Meyer agreed.

“Yes, your brain needs a break and it is always fun to leave reality, even if coming back is a huge struggle,” they said.

Spring break is an amazing time to get away and relax but is it definitely 10 times harder returning to school, work, sports, or whatever may be on your plate, but the difficulty is not enough to wish you would have stayed home.