Students reflect on their travels, time with friends and family and working
By AMBER WARNKE — features@theaggie.org
As students return to campus after spring break, many have exchanged stories of their week-long escapades. Students have spent time traveling, visiting friends and family and working, relaxing in a brief but meaningful break from the demanding academics of the quarter system. Whether their adventures have been far or close to home, spring break has given students the chance to spend time reconnecting with their life outside of school.
Matt Frost, a third-year human biology major, spent his week off sightseeing in San Francisco, including walking on the Golden Gate Bridge and attending a San Jose Sharks hockey game.
“My team won,” Frost said. “It was great to see live.”
Frost also visited his dad’s side of his family, who he finds it difficult to spend time with due to his busy college schedule.
“It was nice getting to talk with all of them again,” Frost said. “I haven’t really seen my dad’s side of the family in some time. It was good to reconnect.”
Meera Putz, a third-year environmental science and management major, also took spring break as a time to reconnect with the people important to her. Putz flew to Montana over break to visit a friend she met at an internship with the Tahoe Environmental Research Center over the summer.
Visiting her friend also gave Putz a chance to engage in outdoor activities, which she finds is the best way to relax from the stress of college life.
“It was a perfect window where we could go skiing because there was tons of snow on the ground,” Putz said. “It was my first time skiing, and [my friend is] an instructor, so I got a private lesson, basically. I was on the bunny hill, but it was still super fun.”
After skiing at the Bridger Bowl Ski Area, Putz spent time trying out more outdoor activities Montana is famous for, with the state being a popular site for rock climbing as well as skiing.
“We had to cross this icy, snow-laden creek [with] this icy log to get to the crag and we did some outdoor rock climbing,” Putz said.
A first-year master’s student in preventative veterinary medicine, who wishes to remain anonymous, similarly took the break as a chance to spend more time outdoors, exploring Diablo State Park in Clayton, which is just over 70 miles away from Davis.
“The hike was one kilometer, so, like, 0.8 miles, vertical,” the student said. “It was 17 miles in total, so that was a fun ride.”
The student said that doing hikes such as this is one way they are able to relax, which they were very intentional about doing over the break.
“I was able to do lots of outdoor stuff, I think that that’s resting although not physically, but in my body and mind,” the student said.
In addition to spending time engaging in pastimes, the student also worked on research for his master’s program.
“We got some new data — we were basically doing some mapping, trying to identify some climate factors that can indicate some bigger chances of diseases and outbreaks,” the student said.
Regardless of how they spent their breaks — traveling, exploring the local area, or working — spring quarter awaits all Aggies with numerous events they can look forward to now that they are back. Students can expect a busy and exciting quarter to come, with Picnic Day recently wrapping up and the Whole Earth Festival soon to begin.
Written by: Amber Warnke — features@theaggie.org
