The
—-.The Battalion
Page 3 • Friday, March 12, 1999
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lips, warnings for spring breakers help make traveling safer
BY STEPHEN WELLS
The Battalion
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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.”
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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.”
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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
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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!