MICHELLE HALE
Sports Editor
Spring break: Everyone looks forward to it for the vacations, family time and March Madness (for the college basketball lovers).
With March Madness in full effect, I was able to watch the tournament in a nice, sunny setting. I visited my sister down in Florida — home of the Florida Gulf Coast University (FGCU) Eagles.
St. Patrick’s Day was not so lucky for the Eagles as they got taken down by University of North Carolina’s (UNC) Tarheels with a score of 83-67. The most exciting part about it was that my sister lives right where all the FGCU students reside.
During the St. Paddy’s Day festivities, my sister and I got to watch the game with all the local college students and cheer on FGCU men’s team at a tequila bar.
Although it lost, almost every college student was cheering on the team and wearing their almost-full school spirited colors. (They’re usually blue, green and white, but since St. Paddy’s Day was Thursday, they sported the FGCU “Irish.”)
Screaming and cheering was heard from about a half mile away from the Gulf Coast Town Center, the hangout spot for all the college kids, every time the men’s team made a basket. Despite the harsh loss against No. 1 seeded UNC in the East Division and being away, the team had the whole school’s support back at home.
Aside from the loss and the upset college students, my sister and I traveled to another spot in the Town Center to watch some more games. We found this chain restaurant that conveniently served some, well, we’ll call it “milk and cookies,” that just so happened to be during happy hour — half off all the “milk” you wanted.
Many games passed as my sister and I caught up, and weeping FGCU fans moped their way out of the bars by the time my sister and I left.
The remaining days of my trip involved beaches, pools and sunscreen with my family and friends. I know what everyone’s thinking: It sounds like an awful time. Trust me — it was even better than it sounded.
After the sunburns and tan lines sunk in, we sat around a fire at my uncle’s house and talked all about things from when we were younger to future plans.
As a last-semester senior, you always get the common question, “What are you doing after you graduate?”
Before, the anxiety and panic attacks hadn’t sunk in. But, realizing after just a few short months I would be done, they hit me hard once I flew back from Florida.
Spring break was a great relaxing time to get away for a bit, but now reality is back in full effect.
This is it.
The last half of my final semester in college is here, and I have five short weeks to get my life figured out in the future.
So to all the people who have asked the question, “What are you doing after you graduate?” or “Are you sad?” or even “Do you feel old?” The answers are: I don’t even know what I’m doing tomorrow, yes, and yes.
College is the greatest time of your life, but as the cliche saying goes, it’s what you make it. The past four years have been nothing but great life lessons and experiences that I wouldn’t change for the world. Not only was it great for the experiences, but the friends and memories you gain along the way make it all worthwhile.