You might hear about the "typical" college spring break to beachy, sunny places like Florida, Mexico and Texas, but there are all kinds of ways to do spring break and its just about what you make of it and chose to do. I did something a little different than most people and went on an alternative Spring Break trip. I still had an awesome spring break, just instead of laying at the beach or relaxing at home, I did volunteer work. I went to New Orleans with a group of students from the Helene G. Simon Hillel Center through their alternative Spring Break trip called Yad in Hand (Yad means hand in Hebrew so it literally means Hand in Hand or Helping Hands). We helped out in areas that had been hit hard by Hurricane Katrina like the Lower 9th Ward. I was amazed to see that after 8 years, there was still a lot of work to be done. My group worked hard painting walls and fixing up houses. We also voulunteered at a food bank and the New Orleans City Park. The park is huge! It is 50% larger than Central Park in NYC and has around 1,300 acres! Don't think it was all work though, we had lots of fun too! Here are some of the things I experienced:
1. Exploring the French Quarter and having Beignets (like fried doughnuts, so good!) at the famous Cafe Du Monde:
2. Takng a Haunted Ghost tour of the city- It was so creepy!
3. Riding the street car around to different areas like Uptown and the Garden District-Can Bloomington have a streetcar please??
4. Exploring Bourbon Street: A looong street full of bars, clubs, and restaurants. Even if you're not 21 (which I'm not) there are plenty of places you can get in and dance all night long!
5. Rock 'N' Bowl! Like what it sounds, a bowling alley with a dance floor and live music, so much fun!
And of course I had a ton of amazing food! I'm not a big seafood person, but the great thing about a city like New Orleans is the variety of food they have. I had a great time and would definitely do a trip like this again. In college there are many of these kinds of opportunities available through different clubs and organizations or even through your school and major. A few kids I know studying journalism went with the journalism school to Australia over spring break and they even offered trips to China and Japan too. There's only four spring breaks in college so spend them doing what you want to do!