Ah, Spring Break – the time to get away from the stress of school and just let loose for a week. Five students share stories about unexpected moments that happened during their time abroad, on the road and back home.

Seeing green
Last Spring Break while abroad in London, my roommates and I traveled to Istanbul to visit friends studying there. We spent St. Patrick’s Day eve at a bar, and by the time we ordered a beer tower, our one roommate wasn’t looking too good. When he started napping, we grabbed a cab to go back to our hotel. Midway up a hill, he puked all over the back seat. Our disgruntled cabbie pulled over, and I jumped out to hold my friend’s sweater while he puked all over a cobblestone sidewalk within eyesight of the Hagia Sophia, the beautiful former mosque. Short on patience and unfamiliar with where our hotel was in relation to the mosque, our cabbie drove a few more blocks up the hill before kicking us out. My other roommates were helping our friend step out, so I was stuck paying the cab fare – and compensation for the mess – to the tune of about 30 U.S. dollars. Frustrated and tired, two of my roommates blamed me for getting us lost. I directed us down the hill, and we stumbled upon the front doors of our hotel. Sober, dirty and broke, we made it back in one disgusting and disgruntled piece.
– Drew Shields, senior advertising and international relations major

You drive me crazy
For this year’s break, we went to Florida to build houses for Habitat for Humanity. Fifteen people went on the trip in three classy minivans. We named our minivan Bertha and the GPS Beth. We took an additional two-hour trip to Miami to go to a club we had heard good things about. Beth ended up taking us as far south as I-95 will take you and nearly to the northernmost point of the Florida Keys. We never found the club, even after spending about six hours in our car. On a separate occasion, she directed us down the most desolate road deep into the woods on our way to rest for the night. It looked like the sort of place where murder movies take place. Then, on the way back to Syracuse, Beth went crazy, so we pulled over. We thought we were still in Virginia and then realized it was D.C. when we saw the Washington monument. Classic mix-up. After asking for directions to the White House, the man pointed to our right and said, ‘It’s right there.’ We don’t know how we missed it. We took pictures and went back on our way. It was a great experience, but we will fly next time we go anywhere. Now we know why they invented airplanes.
– Abby Wolfe, sophomore advertising major, and Meaghan McGrath, sophomore magazine major

Singin’ at the stoplight
This year for Spring Break, I decided to go back home to Middletown, N.Y. – all I did during break was hang out with friends and play tennis. One day, I dropped my mom off at work in her purple Hyundai Elantra, and on the way back home I stopped at a red light. Of course, as any normal person would, I turned on the radio to pass the time in between the changing lights. ‘Love You Like a Love Song,’ a catchy song by Selena Gomez, came on, so I turned the volume all the way up and started busting a move in the driver’s seat. I looked to my right and noticed a very attractive girl staring at me. She was laughing hysterically. My windows were rolled all the way down, and I realized everyone surrounding me in traffic could hear and see me having a dance party in my car. Embarrassed, I tried to hastily drive away as the light turned green, but I misjudged the turn and clipped the curb. I still can’t decide if she was laughing at me or at the stuffed animals in the backseat.
– Cj Cervantes, undecided freshman in the College of Arts and Sciences

Shower seduction
I went to Panama City for this year’s break and witnessed an amusing and equally uncomfortable moment. My friend was waiting to take a shower after a day at the beach, and there was a long line of people. In one bathroom he noticed there was a bathtub right next to a shower occupied by another one of my friends. He jokingly said that he should go fill up the tub and try and seduce the other guy already in the shower. The rest of the group thought it was a great idea and started gathering supplies. Much to the confusion of the naked shower occupant, the seducer then walked in with dish soap to make a bubble bath. He also had a candle, a bottle of wine with two glasses, ranch dressing and maple syrup – the ultimate seduction package. The victim realized what was happening and hopped out completely naked in front of 20 guys and girls. Startled, he hopped back in the shower as the seducer got naked and hopped in the tub. The victim then exited the shower, poured some syrup on the seducer, took the glass of wine and walked away.
-Charlie Reiff, a freshman television, film and radio major