Students, faculty have diverse plans for upcoming fall break

After a stressful midterm week, students and faculty will be taking full advantage of the upcoming fall break.

Many students are heading home for the week to reunite with family and friends they have not seen since September.

"I miss my friends and family so much and can't wait to spend a week with them," Calli Varner '07 said.

While some undergraduates are off to their hometowns, other students and faculty members have plans for exciting vacations.

Lucilla Bonilla '06 said she and a group of friends are spending the week in Cancun, Mexico, at an all-inclusive beach resort.

Likewise, Chip Turner GS said he is going to a quaint bed and breakfast in Middlebury, Conn., to enjoy the countryside's calming natural beauty.

"I'm going to get away from my work," Turner said.

Turner said the University's fall break happens at the perfect time when everyone needs a week-long relaxation period. At his alma mater Amherst College, Turner said, the fall break fell too early in the year.

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Fall break also occurs, for a majority of seniors, right before thesis and graduation stress intensifies.

"This is the last time for seniors to get away, so I'm going with some friends to Sarasota, Fla. to enjoy the warm weather and the beach," Maggie Brown '04 said.

Not all students and faculty, however, are lucky enough to escape their schoolwork during vacation.

Joanna Gaines '05 is headed to Florida, but only to catch up on reading assignments and work on her junior paper at home.

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Similarly, politics professor Patrick Deneen plans to spend the week working on some writing.

"I have a book and a few shorter essays that I'm trying to finish," he said.

Yet, there are some students and faculty members who are combining travel plans with academic studies over the break.

The students in two freshman seminars — FRS 107: The Ocean Environment and FRS 149: Active Geological Processes — will embark on week-long research trips to Bermuda and the Sierra Nevada, respectively, for hands-on learning experiences.

Tiffany Wilson '07, enrolled in the geology seminar, is still in disbelief that she is going to California.

"I've never been to the West Coast or taken a geology class before, so this trip is really exciting for me," she said.

English graduate student Joe Ortiz is also incorporating academic pursuits and travel plans during his break. Ortiz is going to a conference in California to give a short lecture on Shakespeare's "The Tempest." However, after this vacation he's back at the University with, as he said, "a huge stack of ENG 201 papers to grade."

Despite the vast array of student and faculty member plans for next week, everyone can agree that fall break is a well deserved and highly appreciated hiatus from the daily routine of classes.