Article By: Emmy Nam
After a week and a half of blissful relaxation, we’ve finally returned to waking up early in the morning and reluctantly making our way to school. From the bomb of assessments right before spring break, it was a well deserved and needed vacation. During this week off, many people traveled to exotic places, but world turns out to be smaller than we thought. Despite the plethora of getaway destinations, many students ran into other fellow ISMers on their vacations at beaches or cities they traveled to with family and friends.
There were also students who acted against the definition of break and were determined to be productive over this week off. Studious and efficient students like Jeffrey Bui like to get ahead and he “imagined [himself] studying for exams over the break.” However, even self driven students like Jeffrey need leisure time to allow their over worked brains to rest, so he stated he “ended up watching movies and online tv shows instead.” Unlike Jeffrey, Dongyun Lee was very productive in his free time. Over spring break, Dongyun “worked out with [his] buddies Hiro and Jun Hwan to look impressive at IASAS Badminton.” Despite his efforts, he feels he lost much of the results of his efforts, but is working his way up again for prom.
On the other hand, some made the wise decision of spending their spring breaks at the beach or at the new ISM hot spot, Japan. Kamille Jude, who spent her spring break at Balesin beach, ran into many other ISMers there. She expressed that “Despite the unexpected encounters with other ISMers, it was fun bonding with my friends because although we do not spend as much time together as we did 10 years ago, when we are together, it feels as though nothing has changed.” Instead of staying within the Philippines, Sofia Rodriguez visited Japan over break- a place where many students vacationed with families. Sofia said she saw beautiful views of cherry blossom trees, but was also aware of the many ISMers in the same vicinity. She admits that she “tried to avoid contact with as many humans as possible because [she] was on tourist mode- nobody needs to see that.”
Whether spring break was spent at home relaxing, at the beach tanning, or in Japan exploring, it was time well spent for everyone. Wherever you end up, ISM’s international community extends around the world and won’t fail to catch up with you; you can find bearcats anywhere and everywhere you go!
