Womack 1 Cassie Womack Mr.

Neuburger Eng Comp 101-130 7 February 2012 Narrative Spring Break 2011 It may sound surprising, but one can learn quite a bit from a simple Spring Break trip. It all began back in senior year of high school, January 2011, to be exact. I only had two friends who really wanted to do something for senior Spring Break, Austin and Kylie. But, I was determined to go somewhere. I had never taken a trip for Spring Break, and I wasnt going to let this one slip by. Eventually, Kylie, Austin, and I convinced another group of students to help us plan a trip, and we all decided on South Padre Island, TX. When I told my mom my plans, she was of course petrified. To parents, Spring Break is equivalent somehow to that song, Sex & Drugs & Rock & Roll. Ive never understood how rock and roll is so life threatening, but these were my mothers thoughts. I did, however, convince her that South Padre would indeed be innocent enough. Im sure she now regrets the decision of believing me. Our schools Spring Break fell on the week of March 12th. We soon found out this would also be the week of Texas Week. At the time, we werent too concerned about this particular occurrence, but we would soon find out this week was the biggest party week in Texas. The ageold saying is true, by the way, Everything is bigger in Texas. When March finally came along, we all packed our bags and were more than ready to get away. There ended up being nine of us driving, total. This made for two uncomfortable cars. I should also mention, this was the first time I was going to be away from my parents for more than a weekend. But, being the

Womack 2 independent, brilliant, young lady I was, I had no fears of being without parental supervision for a week. Driving down, on the 17 hour drive, I rode with Austin, Karlee, and Soria. Austin and I switched off driving every five hours or so. This was the first mistake made on our trip. I quickly learned life lesson number one- my body was not made to drive at night or for more than two hours at a time. The driving routine was promptly changed to he being the primary driver until he just could no longer function. Thankfully, we had plenty of music and movies to keep us somewhat entertained on the trip down. Seventeen long and dreadful hours later, we arrived in the beautiful southern tip of Texas, South Padre Island. When we first arrived, we were all dead tired but extremely excited for what the week ahead would behold. The first night, we decided we would go out and meet some new people. We thought this task may be difficult, but we were definitely incorrect about that. Immediately, we introduced ourselves to fellow teenagers staying in the same condo, a few floors up. We spent the first night bonding with our newfound friends, exploring a new independent, party life that had been thrust upon us. The week in South Padre quickly became more and more exciting. My group of friends was put into situations many of us had never experienced before. During the day, we spent our time at Coca Cola Beach, (the biggest beach party in the U.S.A.), and during the night, we spent our time out on the town exploring the area, and meeting new people. On the third day in South Padre, we were experiencing a normal day on Coca Cola Beach when I decided crowd surfing was the best idea I had ever had. Little did I know, I dont have the worlds greatest ideas. However, I was determined to live on the edge, and do things I had never done before. So, I did. After feeling great for about two seconds, I fell, or was dropped right on my head. This

Womack 3 happening would be lesson number two to be learned- teenagers really arent full of bright ideas, or very strong, for that matter. After I recovered from our third day of the trip, we continued on our way of partying constantly all day and all night. We went to a few concerts, pool parties, and beach gatherings. I quickly learned over the course of this week, which of the people we traveled with were really my friends. I think as a group overall, we all learned the third and final life lesson. As clichd as it sounds- what happens on Spring Break stays on Spring Break. As the week came to a final close, I finally realized how much this week had changed my life and life perspectives. Although I am still sworn to secrecy on some of the events that took place, I can guarantee I will never experience a week like that ever again. Because of this realization, I ended the week by getting a tattoo reading, SPI 2011. Some people tell me Im going to regret this tattoo. However, the tattoo is not just about the physical acts that occurred on Spring Break. It is also focused on the lessons I learned and how much of a wakeup call to reality it was for me. I learned how money and the way you spend it affects your life, how life is not just one big party, and I gained a sense of independence. Like I stated earlier, this was the first week I had spent away from my parents, and I actually survived. Spring Break 2011 changed my life, in an absolute positive way.