Spring break
Spring Break or Spring Break ( English for spring break ) is usually a week, sometimes two-week break the semesters ( semester break ) to the colleges and universities of the United States . For universities with a quarterly system, the study break comes at the end of the winter quarter and before the start of the spring quarter; for those with the semester system, it is often the middle of the winter or spring semester, which usually runs from January to May. The spring break generally falls from the end of February to mid-April. As early as the beginning of September, special spring break tour operators are advertising in the universities for trips in the coming semester break.
Content
During the spring break, students often go to warm places in the USA, Mexico or the Caribbean to relax from everyday study life , especially through extensive celebrations. This also leads to heavy alcohol and drug consumption , sexual freedom , promiscuity and public display of nudity . In addition, the students are looking for activities that are considered a bit crazy, for example taking part in bizarre races with all kinds of vehicles. For socially committed students, alternative package tours are offered, for example to support people in poorer regions of the world or to experience nature in other countries.
Since the 2000s, special spring break trips and events have also been increasingly offered in Europe.
Destinations
America and the Caribbean
The city of Fort Lauderdale in Florida was the starting point and for many years also the main destination of the spring break tourists. When the spring break in Fort Lauderdale peaked in 1985 with 350,000 college students, residents there were so angry at the damage caused by vacationers that local authorities passed ordinances restricting partying. The mayor also announced on the television show Good Morning America (ABC), “You can't come here anymore.” Fort Lauderdale currently has around 15,000 students a year.
The party willing then moved to the more liberal city of Daytona Beach , Florida, before this city imposed restrictions similar to those of Fort Lauderdale. The number of students (from over 200,000 per year at peak times) then fell so sharply in recent years that the city no longer keeps official statistics. Panama City Beach, Florida and South Padre Island , Texas are popular spring break destinations, especially for students from the southern and midwestern United States.
With the raising of the minimum age for alcohol consumption to 21 years in 1984, with associated restrictions in most US states, neighboring foreign destinations with lower minimum ages or relaxed controls have skyrocketed in popularity. The most popular spring break locations outside of the US are Acapulco , Cancun , Cabo San Lucas , Puerto Vallarta in Mexico , as well as Jamaica and the Bahamas . Around 1,000,000 students travel to these places every year for spring break.
Europe
Destinations in Europe are becoming increasingly popular with both European and non-European young people. While in the past these were mainly advertised as youth trips , high school trips or graduation trips , the organizers now also speak of spring breaks . For example, Lloret de Mar , Magaluf , Ibiza , Mykonos , Rimini , Salou , Siófok , Sunny Beach and Golden Sands are advertised for such trips.
Web link
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b Bernd Dicks: Refuel and waver . In: Spiegel Online , April 1, 2009.
- ↑ Propagated in the film 22 Jump Street using a racing car with small wheels designed as a giant helmet; Brief description and illustration in Berliner Zeitung , 20./21. October 2018, p. 27.