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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (March 12, 1999)
The —-.The Battalion Page 3 • Friday, March 12, 1999 Aggielife 33reak Time Of llli hipPtt Bnden; air pan child; parar. araged h chi focus: s for !!■ lips, warnings for spring breakers help make traveling safer BY STEPHEN WELLS The Battalion I ustrai nded ?ntsf latihc t’s happening all over again. Students skip their final class before the weekend begins. The cars still left in the parking lots are be ing packed up with spare underwear and junk foot!, leaving little room for passengers. ■ Spring Break has descended upon the stu- 15 dent body of Texas A&M, who cannot wait to bare their bodies at the beach or ski down the slopes. Whether or not a student chooses the pfe-assembled package tour or the chaos, spon taneity and bail money of a road trip, the feel- s of freedom associated with the absence of ture for nine days tie each Spring Break ex perience together. I For some students, packing up the car for an oh -fashioned, Griswald-style string of random 1 pre elents remains the best value in town for wav 'Spending a week dodging responsibility. persenH Heather Alexander, a junior agricultural de- tiiai vllopment major, said the random nature of a ro, d trip is its greatest selling point. [AIM® “1 think it’s best to just take off and not know wl ere you’re going until you get there,” | ■exander said. “It’s just that there’s a complete rai domness to going on a road trip. ■ “You never know what’s around the corner, TTTlsd why bother spending a lot of time planning? a V6u can go to the river or go camping if you bmng camping stuff. I’ve gone through Austin to party on Sixth Street and been on the road to ;TtoEB m P out on a beach the next day. The only lim its are your imagination and your gas money.” I One risk students run while on an un planned trip is not realizing where the worst ar eas of travel are. ■ Wanda Paris, a travel agent for A&M Tfavel, i said while this may not be a problem in places e p! liMe Aspen, other popular destinations have 10US their seamier side. IIH “If you go to Cancun, you definitely need to " know where you are going and be aware of where you are,” Paris said. “It’s just like riding uZ the subway in New York City. There are some Places that are safer than others.” f Another popular student alternative is the lalf-planned trip. Scott Carrol, a senior biolo- w jy major, said the thrill of going on an extend- un - pd trip without actually booking a hotel room - is enough to keep the half-planned trip a staple ac ^ in the student vacation diet. “My friends and I once went down to [South] ®dre for four days without buying any beer or ^■ying for a hotel room,” Carrol said. “The first U|day we slept in our car, but we met some peo- pie my friend knew on the second day and just flflL crashed with them for the rest of the trip. : in fn nat4 vited. rdetc “During the day, we’d look for kegs on the beach and just go from one to the next, and we’d crash on the floor of the hotel at night. It ended up just costing us about $50 or $60 for food and a little money for the floor space,” he said. Testing the generosity of others can prove to be a risk as well as a boon to cash-strapped spring breakers. “Be careful around other students from oth er schools,” Paris said. “One hundred thousand students a year go to Cancun on Spring Break. You can meet students from another campus and party with them and have fun with them, but never go out alone. You’ll never see them again after your trip, so be careful around oth ers.” Flying to any location the week of Spring' Break can be made better if students think ahead. “A lot of people don’t know that Spring Break flights are always overbooked,” Paris said. “You want to be at least two hours early for an international flight and at least one hour early for a flight in-country, or you might be out of luck.” MARK MCPHERSON/The Battalion For some, planning ahead means giving a large sum of money to a package tour, but tours are not without their risks. “Those places thrive on Spring Break busi ness, and to make money, they have to deal in volume,” Paris said. “I remember two days be fore one of my groups was going to go on their trip, the hotel, which was overbooked by about 600 people, canceled all of our reservations. It might seem on the poster that a student gets a great deal, but they should remember that when they are traveling, they get what they pay for. ” Students visiting a foreign country must take into account how far away from home they are and try to remember they are guests in a for- eign land. , V 1 “in the Bahamas, three or four girls I knew were partying with the locals,” Paris said. “One got so drunk she found herself lying on a pier with no purse and no ID, passport or anything. “I always keep my ID in my front pocket and other valuables in a safety deposit box. If you get in trouble with no ID, nobody knows who you are, and it can be a nightmare trying to get help.” Start You Future WORK PART-TIME NOW... APPLY FOR A FULL-TIME OPPORTUNITY WHEN YOU graduate! JCS is continuing expansion into College Station. Our new acility in the College Station Business Center is spectacular! ^e are currently hiring for part-time positions in these depart- nents: Client Service • Building Maintenance • Clerical Equipment Repair • PC Software • Inventory Control UCS offers Competitive salary and flexible shifts Excellent work experience, Career opportunities after graduation Paid weekly Opportunity to work with other A&M students and alumni To apply, call (409) 862-5155 or stop by our hospitality room at Rudder Tower room 502 from 9-4 p.m., March 23 & 24 to pick up an application. WWW.UNIVERSALCOMPUTERSYS.COM Sfer) fri® S>tfV<Mr "Alabadly Ou.n. Psiloed." °/< o All Sterling Silver Earrings & Chains * Friday thru Sunday only Beads, Charms, Pendants, Earrings Chains, Belts, Buckles, Wallets & Purses 2006 South Texas Ave. College Station, 409/695-8001 Mon. - Sat. 10-8 * Sun. 11-6 Luck of the Irish St. Patrick's Day rooted in rich traditions BY HINA PATEL The Battalion T here are the leprechauns, the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow and pinching someone when they forget to wear green on March 17. However, there is a bit more to St. Patrick’s Day than legends and folklore. According to the Catholic En cyclopedia, Saint Patrick, also known as the patron saint of Ire land, was not from the Emerald Isle, and his name was not Patrick, it was Maewyn. Maewyn considered himself a pagan until age 16. At this point he was captured by Irish pirates who sold him and his fellow countrymen into slavery. During this time, he became closer to God. He went to Gaul to study, acquired his Christian name of Patrick and returned to Ireland as second bishop to con vert the people to Christianity. He died March 17, 461, which was then proclaimed a saints day. Many pilgrims still go to Downpatrick, where St. Patrick is supposedly buried to visit the tombstone bearing the letter “P,” which may or may not be the site. There are a great number of stories associated with St. Patrick’s Day. Some say Patrick raised people from the dead. Jason Abernethy, a freshman biology major and a student of Irish descent, said there are also the more well-known stories. “Patrick supposedly gave a sermon from a hilltop that drove all the snakes from Ireland,” he said. Among the symbols of St. Patrick’s Day is the shamrock. According to the Extraordi nary Origins of Everyday Things, an Irish tale relates how Patrick used the three-leafed clover to present living proof of the Trini ty and how the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit could all ex ist as separate elements of the same entity. After the death of St. Patrick, his followers wore the shamrock as a symbol in remembrance of the saint. This later became the national flower of Ireland. The color green became asso ciated with St. Patrick’s Day be cause it falls just before spring when everything turns green. Other believe green is the color of hope. Nina Caris, head of the de partment of biology, said St. Patrick’s Day came to America when the Irish fled from their homeland because of the potato famine. “It’s amazing to realize that a microscopic organism actually brought the Irish to America,” she said. “Many people of Irish descent would not be here if it weren’t for the potato blight.” Although St. Patrick’s Day started as a Catholic holy day, it has developed into a widely rec ognized holiday. It was first cele brated in Boston in 1737 . It has also become a tradition for the president of the United States and the Irish prime minis ter to meet on St. Patrick’s Day to participate in a ceremony, which includes a parade ending in front of the White House. Parades take place in 30 states, the largest being in New York City, which paints the center stripe down Fifth Avenue green. Abernethy said Chicago, which has the largest Irish popu lation in America, goes to greater extremes. “I know that in Chicago, they dye the Chicago River green on Saint Patrick’s Day,” he said. Heather Dunn Cantrell, a se nior biomedical science major, said others celebrate the holiday by drinking green beer. “I don’t know about the Catholic roots of St. Patrick’s day,” she said. “But, I know now people seem to see it as an excuse to go out, drink lots of beer and have fun.” JP BEATO/Thk Bait align Smoothie King $!.&• SM««¥HieS Choose from any of our Fat Free Smoothies March 13th - 19th Northgate only ATTENTION AU STUDENTS a STAFF! mei/eirarimeirfofSnu/eirrMfealift Sen/fces A. P. Beutel Health Center and Dial-A-Nurse 4^, | fStsr . will be closed from 11 p.m., Tuesday, March 16 to 8 am. Monday, March 22 (Dial-A-Nurse will resume service at 11 pm on Sunday, March 211 Ambulance Service/EMS will remain In service during the holiday. Call 9-911 for assistance. Be Safe and Drive Carefully over the Break! Have a great Spring Break From the Vice President for Student Affairs Dr. Malon Southerland ‘65 10th Floor Rudder Tower Email: malons@tamu.edu • Phone: 845-4728 THE ONLY THING HEAVIER IS YOUR COURSE LOAD. The 1998 AGGIELAND The nation's largest college yearbook 768 pages • 2-1 /4 inches thick • Weighs more than 10 pounds Picking up your 1998 Aggieland is easy. If you ordered a book, go to the Reed McDonald Building basement (use west doors), look for the tables, and show us your Student ID. Hours: 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Monday through Friday. If you did not order last year's yearbook, you may purchase one for $35 plus tax in room 015 (basement) Reed McDonald. Cash, checks, VISA, MasterCard, Dis cover and American Express accepted. GET YOUR COPY TODAY!