Speaker 1: Hey, y'all, thanks so much for joining me for another
Speaker 1: episode of Therapy for Black Girl's University. We'll get right
Speaker 1: to our conversation after a word from our sponsors. In
Speaker 1: a special spring Break edition of Therapy for Black Girl's University,
Speaker 1: I sat down with our advisory council for a lively
Speaker 1: and insightful group chat about what spring break really looks
Speaker 1: like at different stages of the college journey. Jaya, a sophomore,
Speaker 1: shared her excitement and curiosity as she's still figuring out
Speaker 1: what spring break means for her. Fatima, a senior, reflected
Speaker 1: on navigating the pressure to make the most of her
Speaker 1: last college spring break while staying grounded in what she
Speaker 1: truly wants. And MICHAELA, a recent graduate, offered wisdom about
Speaker 1: transitioning out of the college bubble and redefining rest fund
Speaker 1: and boundaries in adulthood. Together, we chatted about the culture
Speaker 1: around black spring break, Houston, the joy community, and misconceptions
Speaker 1: how to approach spring break safely, with intention and authenticity.
Speaker 1: We also talked about the financial realities of spring break,
Speaker 1: how to resist the pressure to keep up with social
Speaker 1: media aesthetics, and how to use this time off as
Speaker 1: a meaningful mental health recent If something resonates with you
Speaker 1: while enjoying our conversation, please share with us on social
Speaker 1: media using the hashtag TVG in Session. Here's our conversation.
Speaker 1: I am very excited to be back with our TVGU
Speaker 1: Council today. Ladies, would you please start us off by
Speaker 1: introducing yourselves again and letting us know what school you're representing.
Speaker 1: We'll start with you. Fatima, Hi, everyon.
Speaker 2: My name is Fatima.
Speaker 3: I'm a senior at Toft University and I study political science.
Speaker 4: Jaya Hi, everyone, my name is Jyron named Bacon, and
Speaker 4: I am a sophomore at the unsinkable Albany State University.
Speaker 1: And Michaelah.
Speaker 2: My name is MICHAELA and I'm a graduate of Dillard University.
Speaker 1: So we're very excited. The weather is getting better outside,
Speaker 1: sunshine has returned to our lives, and many of you
Speaker 1: are preparing for a spring break. So what does spring
Speaker 1: break mean to each of you at this stage in
Speaker 1: your academic journey? So, Fatima, you are preparing for maybe
Speaker 1: your last spring break, well definitely as an undergrad. So
Speaker 1: what is spring break feeling like to you right now?
Speaker 3: I actually just came back from spring break, And I
Speaker 3: feel like for most people spring break is about like vacationing,
Speaker 3: getting out the country and taking trips. But for me personally,
Speaker 3: especially because I'm about to graduate, there's just a lot
Speaker 3: going on and a lot to figure out because of
Speaker 3: uncertainty about postgrad. For me, spring break was a time
Speaker 3: for me to just reset, recharge, and just catch a break.
Speaker 2: So that's where I'm at.
Speaker 1: Got it? And what about you, Jaiya, how are you
Speaker 1: feeling about the pacing of spring break now that you
Speaker 1: are a sophomore?
Speaker 4: Yeah, so my spring rate ended two weeks ago, and
Speaker 4: with every break, I agree with Fatima. I just take
Speaker 4: that time to rest. I don't do much. I don't
Speaker 4: go to Daytona, I don't party. I just sleep all
Speaker 4: the time.
Speaker 1: And MICHAELA, this is your first year without necessarily an
Speaker 1: official kind of spring break, right, So what it feel
Speaker 1: like for you to not have that built in kind
Speaker 1: of time off.
Speaker 2: Yes, it's definitely treaking, some giving news to I think
Speaker 2: having the kind of leisure and type of vacation built in.
Speaker 2: I miss it definitely. Because I supposed to graduate, I'm working,
Speaker 2: and so those little things are things that I don't
Speaker 2: really think about when exiting college, and you know, I
Speaker 2: did still get to, you know, get in touch with
Speaker 2: on my friends who are still in college and kind
Speaker 2: of see what's going on and spring break and whatnot.
Speaker 2: But yeah, it's different. It's cool, but yeah, good time still.
Speaker 1: Okay. So, Fatima and Jaya, you both mentioned that you
Speaker 1: did not use the spring break this year as an
Speaker 1: opportunity to get out and party. You really used it
Speaker 1: as a reset and like, Okay, let me just maybe
Speaker 1: catch up on some things and me kind of collect
Speaker 1: my breath. Is there any feelings of like, oh gosh,
Speaker 1: like I missed out, Like we're other friends traveling and
Speaker 1: doing maybe more fun things, or how are you navigating
Speaker 1: kind of watching maybe other people do the Daytona Jaya
Speaker 1: you mentioned, or like the partying versus you kind of
Speaker 1: just stay in put this year.
Speaker 4: For me, I don't necessarily feel like I missed out
Speaker 4: on anything because I don't like big crowds. With this
Speaker 4: spring break, I am in the semester right before nursing school,
Speaker 4: so I'm preparing to take my teas, so it has
Speaker 4: been a lot of studying on my end. So being
Speaker 4: able to go home and just sit down and rest
Speaker 4: and recollect my thoughts. I got a break that I
Speaker 4: didn't know I needed because in college I'm so used
Speaker 4: to be an oncle that when I really got time
Speaker 4: to sit down, I was like, hmm, I was actually
Speaker 4: always working. I needed this breaksit myself.
Speaker 3: And for me, I did get a bit of fomo
Speaker 3: because especially because I'm in my senior year, so I
Speaker 3: was like, I'm going to look back at this and
Speaker 3: regret that i didn't do it. But for me, I
Speaker 3: think what was really important was stepping back and looking
Speaker 3: at the bigger picture and understanding that I'm not in
Speaker 3: a race with anyone and this is really just about
Speaker 3: my mental wellbeing and my physical wellbeing. And I feel
Speaker 3: like it also gives me something to work more towards,
Speaker 3: because now the idea I have for myself is that, Okay,
Speaker 3: for graduation and for my birthday, which is in June,
Speaker 3: like four weeks out from grad, I'm going to do
Speaker 3: it big. I'm going to treat myself. So I think
Speaker 3: I'm coping well.
Speaker 1: Nice, nice. So you know, back in my days, so
Speaker 1: to speak, all we had were like stories to tell
Speaker 1: about like what we did on spring break? Right, are
Speaker 1: what friends did on their spring breaks in years past
Speaker 1: and even in current years, and now you all have
Speaker 1: so much social media. There's so much technology, so many
Speaker 1: different ways to document what's happening. If you think about
Speaker 1: like the time you spend in college and McHale, the
Speaker 1: time that you know, the years you spend in college,
Speaker 1: how do you feel like social media has impacted our
Speaker 1: influence the ways that you think about spring break?
Speaker 2: I think social media has definitely created an image of
Speaker 2: what spring break I guess quote unquote should look like.
Speaker 2: And it's contrary to what both Giant Fatima said, just
Speaker 2: kind of the recharging and recentering type of vibe, because
Speaker 2: I feel like our generation like we're working really hard
Speaker 2: because there's a lot of things and uncertainties that we
Speaker 2: have to navigate, especially in that last year a couple
Speaker 2: of years before you graduate slash postgrad, right, And so
Speaker 2: I think the image that has created is like this
Speaker 2: hard line between okay, recharging and recentoring and the partying.
Speaker 2: But I think the image it's kind of changed over time.
Speaker 2: I think now it's like party, party, party, don't sleep,
Speaker 2: But the reality might be something more closer than two.
Speaker 2: I'm gonna recharge, I'm gonna move into something fun and small,
Speaker 2: maybe like a day trip, but mostly we still have
Speaker 2: school next week, so that sort of thing. That's how
Speaker 2: I actually spent my last two spring breaks. So but yeah,
Speaker 2: I think it's changed depending on what we've seen.
Speaker 1: Mm hmm. Anybody else have thoughts about social media and
Speaker 1: how it has influenced spring break culture so to speak?
Speaker 3: Yes, so, at least from my perspective, I think social
Speaker 3: media gives the impression that spring break is supposed to
Speaker 3: be this big, grand thing, like these huge group chips.
Speaker 3: Like I know one friend group in my city. They somehow,
Speaker 3: I don't know how the trip made it out the
Speaker 3: group chat, but they gathered twenty college students and they
Speaker 3: all stood in one villa in dr and they posted
Speaker 3: a lot of pictures. It seemed like they had a
Speaker 3: really great time. But for someone like me or other
Speaker 3: people who didn't do much for spring break, it can
Speaker 3: ruin your perception of what it's supposed to be of.
Speaker 3: Is this supposed to be a time for me to
Speaker 3: rest or? Is this supposed to be a picture perfect
Speaker 3: trip where I'm taking pictures. I have this like a
Speaker 3: friend group of fifteen twenty people. So I think social
Speaker 3: media definitely amplifies the expectations of what spring break is
Speaker 3: supposed to look like. Rather than it being a time
Speaker 3: for rest, it's depicted to be more of a time
Speaker 3: of partying, which is nothing wrong with it, but yeah,
Speaker 3: definitely social media plays a big role in that.
Speaker 4: Yes, I definitely agree with both Fatima and Mikayla. Going
Speaker 4: back to what you said about fear and missing out,
Speaker 4: I feel that social media plays a part in other
Speaker 4: students with that. They feel like they have to be
Speaker 4: at the parties, they have to be at the beaches,
Speaker 4: they have to take the pictures, and they don't necessarily
Speaker 4: feel like they need to recharge. They feel like it's party, party, party,
Speaker 4: all the time.
Speaker 1: Yes, And I wonder if any of you feel like, well,
Speaker 1: I don't know, Jay, if you were in school, if
Speaker 1: there's a difference for you, But has there felt like
Speaker 1: there's a difference pre COVID and post COVID to spring break?
Speaker 1: I mean, because I feel like you were home kind
Speaker 1: of doing school at home or just on campus. There
Speaker 1: were some years where we weren't really traveling, right, and
Speaker 1: so has there felt like a difference now post COVID
Speaker 1: to the spring break or have you not noticed very
Speaker 1: much of a difference.
Speaker 4: I don't think I'm the best person to speak to that.
Speaker 4: During COVID, I was in eighth grade, and then post COVID,
Speaker 4: I was pretty much homeschool for high school, so it
Speaker 4: was never a thing like spring break. But I will
Speaker 4: say the high schoolers now are also participating in spring break,
Speaker 4: which is something I never knew about before. I was like,
Speaker 4: when did we start doing this?
Speaker 1: Like yeah, wow, I was not aware of that. What
Speaker 1: about for you, Fatima and MICHAELA any kind of difference
Speaker 1: between kind of pre COVID and post COVID spring break vibes.
Speaker 3: So when I started college right after lockdown, so I
Speaker 3: wasn't in the thick of it before COVID, but I
Speaker 3: did have older siblings who got to experience college pre COVID.
Speaker 2: And what I will say is that.
Speaker 3: Spring break before COVID, I feel like, was a lot
Speaker 3: more chill in the sense that it wasn't a big
Speaker 3: production for social media. It was, yeah, we're gonna go
Speaker 3: to Miami, we're gonna go to Puerto Rico, we're gonna
Speaker 3: go to the dr and everybody went on their trips.
Speaker 3: Everybody took cute pictures and called it a day. Whereas
Speaker 3: I feel like post COVID, I don't know what exactly
Speaker 3: the shift was, but something really did shift, whereas like
Speaker 3: everything is so social media centered now. Yes, spring break
Speaker 3: I feel like is more reproduction now than it is
Speaker 3: an actual trip.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I definitely agree with that. I wasn't. I also
Speaker 2: wasn't going to be like in the figure that during
Speaker 2: COVID or before I started college in twenty twenty one,
Speaker 2: so I was a ride after. And yeah, I mean
Speaker 2: it got time. Things were kind of getting reaccolated back
Speaker 2: into kind of like a semi normal kind of structure
Speaker 2: when it comes to like spring break and stuff like that.
Speaker 2: College culture, campus culture, especially at my HBCU. It took
Speaker 2: like a little bit of time just to get back
Speaker 2: into the swing of things. But I think now that
Speaker 2: we've been back for like maybe a year or so,
Speaker 2: like it has taken a grand kind of scale type
Speaker 2: of thing. And I agree with the social media playing
Speaker 2: a huge role in it, because it's got expectation to
Speaker 2: go to all the places that's trending, get content, do
Speaker 2: all those types of things, which isn't bad, like it's
Speaker 2: your rag, but it's also like it is becoming like
Speaker 2: super oversaturated and it feels like the focus should be
Speaker 2: more on enjoying yourself and enjoying your peers. Why you
Speaker 2: have that time to take that break, because you know
Speaker 2: the rest of the last time it's really going to
Speaker 2: be built into your schedule, And yeah, I think it
Speaker 2: should be more focused on having a good.
Speaker 1: Time more from our conversation after the break, So, y'all
Speaker 1: have mentioned a couple of cities that it feels are
Speaker 1: still on the map for spring break right, So definitely
Speaker 1: when I was in school, people talked about, like Daytana
Speaker 1: Beach in Miami. One city that I feel like has
Speaker 1: not been as much of a spring break destination but
Speaker 1: that I'm definitely hearing more about this year is Houston.
Speaker 1: So I'm wondering, are people on your campuses talking about Houston?
Speaker 1: Are they visiting Houston for spring break? And how do
Speaker 1: you feel like cities like Houston and Miami, Like, how
Speaker 1: did it become such popular attractions for spring break destinations
Speaker 1: for students.
Speaker 3: So one of my suite mates actually went to Houston,
Speaker 3: and I also was a little confused about why Houston
Speaker 3: was the spot, especially because apparently this was like tropical
Speaker 3: season in Houston or Texas. People were complaining they like,
Speaker 3: you guys are coming here, but it's going to be
Speaker 3: raining a lot, which.
Speaker 2: It did, and people were complaining.
Speaker 3: But I think where the shift is coming from is
Speaker 3: Miami placing a lot of restrictions on spring breakgoers, so
Speaker 3: that like pushed a lot of people out. Miami kind
Speaker 3: of was telling people don't come here anymore. And I
Speaker 3: think where Houston came to play, I don't know, because
Speaker 3: I questioned myself. I was like, why not Atlanta because
Speaker 3: I don't know, But with Houston.
Speaker 2: I think for Houston, it has a lot of club culture.
Speaker 3: It's big, and I think also spring Break overlapping with Rodeo.
Speaker 3: I think that also played a big role in it
Speaker 3: as well. I was also telling the group before you
Speaker 3: joined Ghana Independence also had like a big stream of
Speaker 3: party He's going on in Houston during like the first
Speaker 3: week of spring break. So I think what happened with
Speaker 3: Houston this year, it was like there were three waves
Speaker 3: of people. There were people coming for the Independence events,
Speaker 3: there were people coming generally for spring Break, and then
Speaker 3: there were people there for Rodeo as well, and that's
Speaker 3: how we got what we got this year.
Speaker 1: Yeah, you know, it's really interesting because when I think
Speaker 1: about spring break, I'm thinking typically water, right, that is
Speaker 1: what I associated with, and there I don't think is
Speaker 1: any water. I mean maybe the Gulf of Mexico, but
Speaker 1: like in Houston, the kinda go lay out next to
Speaker 1: But you bring up a great point around like nightclub
Speaker 1: culture righting, like different cultural kinds of things that may
Speaker 1: be interesting to students, Jaya, what have you been hearing
Speaker 1: from peers as it relates to Houston and Miami in
Speaker 1: different places?
Speaker 4: Adding on to the Fatima's point, I only seen about
Speaker 4: a handful of students actually go to Houston from my
Speaker 4: school for rodeo. A lot of them went to Daytona,
Speaker 4: and that is because Miami plays so many restrictions on students,
Speaker 4: but also with the nightclub culture there, Like say you
Speaker 4: were a plus sized girl, you probably wouldn't even be
Speaker 4: able to get into the clubs in Miami. But I
Speaker 4: know a lot of people want that. Florida feel like
Speaker 4: you said, a lot of people want to be around
Speaker 4: water and be on the beach because I feel that
Speaker 4: a lot of people subconsciously look at the beach as cleansing,
Speaker 4: So a lot of people yet want to be around.
Speaker 1: Water and MICHAELA, you were in Thoughland, New Orleans. We
Speaker 1: know that's just like a quick drive to Houston. So
Speaker 1: people talking about Houston as a fring break destination at
Speaker 1: your time in campus.
Speaker 2: So prior to this year, not as many people, even
Speaker 2: though we were like super duper close. I think it
Speaker 2: was more of like the Florida Miami vibe. But again,
Speaker 2: as they said that, there are a lot more restrictions
Speaker 2: and there are a lot of like different identity kind
Speaker 2: of politics at play, which was a great point. And
Speaker 2: so Houston has a lot going on this year, and
Speaker 2: I feel like it was very i would say, like marketed,
Speaker 2: but a lot of people like with the plans of
Speaker 2: the rodeo and stuff like that, like they made nice
Speaker 2: plans and like layout so it can be like an
Speaker 2: easy trip, so you can have expectations going into it.
Speaker 2: I think that's the positive. But the social media having
Speaker 2: an impact is because when people are hosting events and
Speaker 2: stuff like that, you get a feel of what you're
Speaker 2: eating into and you can kind of share it into
Speaker 2: the group chat and see if everybody's comfortable with the
Speaker 2: vibe that Houston has. And it seems like a lot
Speaker 2: of people that I know who are still currently at
Speaker 2: my school, or probably even one or two years out
Speaker 2: of graduation. All went to Houston to the rodeo and
Speaker 2: just the surrounding parties. Like when a big thing like
Speaker 2: that is happening in a city, everybody tries to maybe
Speaker 2: do an event or that type of thing pop up.
Speaker 2: So it seemed that there is an array of options
Speaker 2: this time, and I think this time, this go around,
Speaker 2: Houston was the place to go.
Speaker 1: So if I'm hearing you correctly, there were maybe like
Speaker 1: ev organizers and maybe like party promoters who were getting
Speaker 1: packages together almost for students to opt into, like oh,
Speaker 1: come spend your spring break here in Houston and you
Speaker 1: could just pay for your trip almost in one as
Speaker 1: opposed to like somebody in your friend group organizing. And
Speaker 1: is that kind of what y'all saw happening?
Speaker 2: For sure? People who I saw when they're yeah, they
Speaker 2: posted all the events if they were attending, and like
Speaker 2: a lot of Greek events, different kind of school, kind
Speaker 2: of theme events the school versus that school. Like people
Speaker 2: really got creative with promoting and so I think that
Speaker 2: also was a really big plus in detain around for.
Speaker 1: Got it, got it, So Fatima you mentioned, I mean
Speaker 1: I'm thinking back to like my time in college, and
Speaker 1: I don't even ever remember having an extra like two
Speaker 1: hundred to five hundred or more dollars to like spend
Speaker 1: on spring break. And you mentioned like all these people
Speaker 1: getting together and like going to a villa or something
Speaker 1: in the dr And so, how have you been hearing
Speaker 1: peers talk about like actually financing spring break. Is it
Speaker 1: something as like a gift from family? Are they saving
Speaker 1: throughout the semester for it? Picking up an extra job
Speaker 1: to do it?
Speaker 2: Like?
Speaker 1: How are people getting creative around financing? Hopefully not credit
Speaker 1: card did, but how are people getting creative around financing
Speaker 1: for spring break?
Speaker 3: The top answer for that would be those refund checks.
Speaker 3: A lot of people are using good amounts of der
Speaker 3: refund checks.
Speaker 2: Work study jobs as well. People are picking up those
Speaker 2: extra shifts.
Speaker 3: Like before spring break, everyone I knew did not have
Speaker 3: their hair done, no nails were done. Everybody was on
Speaker 3: a very strict and tight budget.
Speaker 2: Fail.
Speaker 3: That's definitely where that's coming from.
Speaker 1: Any thought's there for you, Giant.
Speaker 4: Yes, as far as how I feel people are founding it,
Speaker 4: definitely refund checks, Definitely their parents. But one thing I've
Speaker 4: been noticing is a lot of students are acting like
Speaker 4: random students on campus. Hey, we're going here for screen break.
Speaker 4: Do you do someone want to put it in one
Speaker 4: ninety five for the airbnb, Like complete random students that
Speaker 4: they never spoke to before. They're just getting together to
Speaker 4: get airbnbs and take the trips and flights.
Speaker 1: H Okay, okay, what about you and Kayla?
Speaker 2: Yeah, for sure, I'd say you like a combination of
Speaker 2: those two. Like people would definitely ask outside of their
Speaker 2: friend us they can split it up more because the
Speaker 2: more you split up the airbnb or the flight costs,
Speaker 2: the cheaper it is. And then like leading up to
Speaker 2: spring break, I saw people like selling brownies or like
Speaker 2: bag goods, or like they'll do a hair sell hotel. Like,
Speaker 2: people are getting really creative on campus around ramping up
Speaker 2: to spring break because they were saving up and so
Speaker 2: they'll use whatever talents they had to just support their
Speaker 2: trip and so and openly do it. And people understood
Speaker 2: that there's a common understanding with that, So people were
Speaker 2: more prone to buying a big good or whatnot and
Speaker 2: stuff like that supporting them.
Speaker 1: You know, Jeah, you bring up an interesting point in
Speaker 1: the interest of just trying to make the trip happen,
Speaker 1: you end up maybe traveling with strangers or you know, like, Okay,
Speaker 1: I just need somebody to feel this spot. So Okay,
Speaker 1: I don't know very much about you, but come on,
Speaker 1: and the common joke around like girls' trips and they
Speaker 1: fallen apart after a trip to Miami. I feel like
Speaker 1: this could be one of the reasons why we sometimes
Speaker 1: see tension after trips is that there is no real
Speaker 1: common understanding or very maybe much knowledge of this person
Speaker 1: that you're even traveling with, which can lead to like, oh,
Speaker 1: I didn't know this about you because I didn't know
Speaker 1: very much about you at all. And then maybe some
Speaker 1: of that's spelling over to campus. Have you seen any
Speaker 1: kind of fallout from that even this year around people
Speaker 1: who maybe didn't know each other that well and then
Speaker 1: the group trip did not go so well.
Speaker 4: Yeah, like the group chat did not make it out
Speaker 4: of Miami together. I've seen, and it's sad to say
Speaker 4: what I've seen, like girls get left on beaches and
Speaker 4: stif girls get left back in the airbnbs because they
Speaker 4: It's different when you are having a peer or friend
Speaker 4: and you guys only ever talk or me out the
Speaker 4: side of a shared space. But then when you're living
Speaker 4: together and you're not agreeing with what one person does
Speaker 4: and what the next person does, and you guys are
Speaker 4: getting into arguments about city things, and this group's breaking
Speaker 4: up pretty much like you said, group chat, not making
Speaker 4: it out of Miami, falling out out of Miami. I
Speaker 4: think that is one of the main reasons why, because
Speaker 4: they don't know the people that they are going on
Speaker 4: these trips with not well enough. Anyways.
Speaker 3: Well, for me, today's the first day back from spring break,
Speaker 3: so I guess I haven't heard anything just yet, but
Speaker 3: I'm sure.
Speaker 2: I'll hear things as it goes.
Speaker 3: But looking back past couple of years of college, yeah,
Speaker 3: I've definitely seen those kind of issues. And more times
Speaker 3: than often, it's not a situation of oh, you took
Speaker 3: people you don't know on trips. It's you went with
Speaker 3: your friends, but they were pre existing divides in the
Speaker 3: friend group that just got amplified on the trip. And
Speaker 3: you come back from the trip and now it's like, Okay,
Speaker 3: now everybody sees it for what it is, and you
Speaker 3: see the whole fallout happen after that.
Speaker 1: Yeah, so maybe issues that should have been discussed before
Speaker 1: you actually took the trip, and maybe even people thinking like, oh,
Speaker 1: this trip will make it better, right, like we'll just
Speaker 1: have fun together, when we know that that is not
Speaker 1: always the case. Yes, got it, got it. So I
Speaker 1: know you are already thinking ahead, Fatima to your birthday
Speaker 1: celebration and post graduation celebration. But for each of you,
Speaker 1: are there places that are not like typical spring break
Speaker 1: spots that you're thinking like, oh, this is on my
Speaker 1: vision board that I would like to vacation or have
Speaker 1: a trip there one day.
Speaker 3: Yes, so my sisters and I are talking about South
Speaker 3: of France, hopefully for a grad slash birthday trip. South
Speaker 3: of France is a popular summer spot for vacationing, but
Speaker 3: not necessarily for spring break. My sister also suggested Mikonos,
Speaker 3: which is also not spring break and I guess this
Speaker 3: could be a spring break spot, but not at the
Speaker 3: same time. But Saint Vincent it's pretty close by, it's
Speaker 3: the Islands, but I haven't really heard it as a
Speaker 3: spot that.
Speaker 4: People go to for spring break.
Speaker 3: Those are the top three places that I'm looking at.
Speaker 3: We'll see what works out, but hopefully one of them
Speaker 3: work out.
Speaker 1: What about you, MICHAELA? Any places on your list for
Speaker 1: the future, I.
Speaker 2: Think, like for the summer. Like my I also have
Speaker 2: a summer birthday. I'm also a Gemini, So I'm thinking
Speaker 2: like I'll be moving to my grad program in New
Speaker 2: York and so I think, honestly there to start with
Speaker 2: just discovering certain aspects of the city and stuff like that.
Speaker 2: I think that's where I'm looking at going. Not a
Speaker 2: typical spring Break spot and from my knowledge, but I
Speaker 2: think honestly though, I'm seeing that spring Break is going
Speaker 2: from like more of like a tropical by the water
Speaker 2: vibe to like city vibes just because of organizing in
Speaker 2: the city, club culture and stuff like that. So I'm
Speaker 2: excited to check that out in New York. I've never been,
Speaker 2: And yeah, I see it's about exciting.
Speaker 4: What about you, Dan, Yeah, so I am a Haitian
Speaker 4: American and I'm learning more about that side of myself
Speaker 4: because my mom doesn't really talk about it. I've started
Speaker 4: meeting more of my family members lately with the past
Speaker 4: winter Break and Christmas and whatnot. So I know a
Speaker 4: lot of people don't want to go to Haiti, but
Speaker 4: I if I don't go to where my people are from,
Speaker 4: I at least want to step my foot on the
Speaker 4: sand on the soil over there to be like okay
Speaker 4: this and get to know more about it. And I
Speaker 4: don't think that's on a lot of people's vision boards,
Speaker 4: per say, because I hear a lot of stigma around
Speaker 4: Haiti and not going over there and whatnot. If I
Speaker 4: can get over there, I'm going, Yeah.
Speaker 1: It sounds really important both as a beautiful place to visit,
Speaker 1: but also it feels very important to you roots wise
Speaker 1: and like this is where I'm from, this.
Speaker 4: Is my family is bro Yes, definitely.
Speaker 1: So MICHAELA, is there anything that you wish that you
Speaker 1: had known about spring break before actually starting college?
Speaker 2: Ooh man, that is a great question. I think for me,
Speaker 2: what I wish that I've known before, like spring break
Speaker 2: culture is honestly just doing more. Like for me, I'm
Speaker 2: a bit artsy, right and so I love to take
Speaker 2: coloroid to have kind of physical media and stuff like that.
Speaker 2: I think I would definitely invest more into that kind
Speaker 2: of way of archiving these experiences or just talking about
Speaker 2: it rather than social media. I think like I've definitely
Speaker 2: been influenced to just do things for a spring break
Speaker 2: that I wasn't or my friends weren't honestly super interesting
Speaker 2: and it's just what's happening right or it's just where
Speaker 2: you know everybody's at recording so I get to spring break.
Speaker 2: For me, it's not a typical kind of answer to
Speaker 2: this question, but I would definitely take more polaris, like
Speaker 2: I don't know if film camera. I have a little
Speaker 2: cam quarder like just so I can hold the memories
Speaker 2: of my hand and have to scroll to find them.
Speaker 1: So nice. More for our conversation after the break and Johnny,
Speaker 1: you mentioned you are preparing for a nursing school and
Speaker 1: thinking about what the future of your program will look like.
Speaker 1: Is there anything that you're hoping that you will do
Speaker 1: differently in spring breaks in the future years.
Speaker 4: Yes, So going into college, I wish I would have
Speaker 4: known how important spring break is in terms of resting.
Speaker 4: In my case, this past spring break, I had no plan,
Speaker 4: so I just went home and rested. But I really
Speaker 4: wish I would have been the student to save up
Speaker 4: to go somewhere, even if it wasn't a place like
Speaker 4: we said Daytona Houston. I wish that I would have
Speaker 4: went somewhere to actually clear my mind and not somewhere
Speaker 4: I'm so familiar with actually be like okay, yeah, you
Speaker 4: know I did this, and with like having to take
Speaker 4: my teas and going into nursing school, I just wish
Speaker 4: I took it more serious because now this is the
Speaker 4: only time in my life where this break is really
Speaker 4: built in so into my schedule. So now it's like, Okay,
Speaker 4: things are getting serious, and I nursing students don't necessarily
Speaker 4: have a spring break that necessarily averlant and rate. It's
Speaker 4: always work and no play with them for most of
Speaker 4: the times. So I wish I would have took it
Speaker 4: more serious.
Speaker 1: As I'm hearing y'all say talk about this in MICHAELA,
Speaker 1: you even mentioned you know, now you're in between undergrad
Speaker 1: and preparing for your grad program, thinking about like adult life,
Speaker 1: so to speak, right, and like there are not these
Speaker 1: built in breaks, and it's making me think of, like,
Speaker 1: how can we do a better job of being intentional
Speaker 1: about creating these breaks for ourselves? Right, Like it comes
Speaker 1: as a part of the program when you're in school,
Speaker 1: but like you still need breaks as an adult, and
Speaker 1: so how do we prepare for that, you know, say,
Speaker 1: for that, how do we protect that time on our calendar?
Speaker 1: So that we don't like burn out or find ourselves
Speaker 1: really crashing out because we have not taken a break.
Speaker 1: And I don't think that we always do the best
Speaker 1: job of thinking about that as adults. But I think
Speaker 1: that if I could give a piece of advice to
Speaker 1: you would be to think about, like, Okay, how do
Speaker 1: I protect time even if it's not a full week, right, Like,
Speaker 1: maybe it's a couple of long weekends here and there,
Speaker 1: so that you are still being intentional about giving yourself
Speaker 1: those breaks even though you know you don't have the
Speaker 1: name spring break anymore. And fatimo, is there a piece
Speaker 1: of advice that you would offer to maybe first years
Speaker 1: or sophomore is about spring break?
Speaker 3: The biggest piece of advice I would always tell people
Speaker 3: is to not compare ourselves, especially as a first year
Speaker 3: coming in. Think spring break is one of the first
Speaker 3: times you really see, I guess, the financial gaps between
Speaker 3: not necessarily maybe you and your peers, it could be
Speaker 3: you and your peers, but just your college community seeing
Speaker 3: the kind of lavish trips some people are able to
Speaker 3: go on with their families and friends. So the first
Speaker 3: thing is to not compare or to not feel bad.
Speaker 3: And the second thing I would always say like, yeah,
Speaker 3: like just if you have the opportunity to do it,
Speaker 3: then one hundred percent do it, because these are the
Speaker 3: only four years of your life where a break is
Speaker 3: actually built into your schedule. When I went on break
Speaker 3: with my friend earlier this year, when I was in
Speaker 3: Ghane and January, one of my friends made a joke
Speaker 3: and it was like, Oh my gosh, guys, can you
Speaker 3: believe that next year we're going to have to.
Speaker 4: Put in PTO to do this?
Speaker 3: So it was like just knowing how to actually take
Speaker 3: advantage of it. So if the opportunity present itself, one
Speaker 3: hundred percent do it.
Speaker 1: I love it. So you've all kind of talked about
Speaker 1: kind of making spring break and these different things to
Speaker 1: your own. What are your thoughts about, like creating traditions
Speaker 1: like these for yourselves and things that you might share
Speaker 1: with other college students, any ideas about how you're planning
Speaker 1: to do that kind of post undergrad life.
Speaker 3: So for me, I plan on guess, depending on how
Speaker 3: over my post grad job would look, like choosing a
Speaker 3: specific time of the year to just always tell myself
Speaker 3: that this is when I'm taking my PTO one hundred percent.
Speaker 3: I've grown up watching my parents do it. My parents
Speaker 3: take their PTO together every September so they get to
Speaker 3: vacation together after working so hard during the year. And
Speaker 3: I even see my sisters do it every June, they
Speaker 3: take a summer trip together, and now that I'm graduating,
Speaker 3: I can finally join them. But I think it's really
Speaker 3: really great and it's been nice for me being able
Speaker 3: to see that example set in my life by people
Speaker 3: that I look up to because they're all very hard
Speaker 3: working individuals, but seeing them make the cautious effort to
Speaker 3: take a break and treat themselves shows.
Speaker 2: Me that life is not all about working.
Speaker 1: About too Jallia.
Speaker 4: If I'm being honest, I've never necessarily thought that far
Speaker 4: out about what I'll do when I get out of
Speaker 4: college in terms of giving myself a break. I can
Speaker 4: say that with going on the non traditional path to medicine,
Speaker 4: I'll be a nurse first, so I think, like, from
Speaker 4: what I know thus far, my job will allow me
Speaker 4: to have those breaks. Because we are working twelve hour ships.
Speaker 4: I know my body will be tired, but it's not
Speaker 4: as if I'm working every single day. To me, right now,
Speaker 4: when I think postgrad, I'm thinking of breaking generational curses
Speaker 4: because I am a first gen student. So I'm thinking, Okay,
Speaker 4: let me get the good job. Let me go back
Speaker 4: to school to get another degree, so that I can
Speaker 4: buy my own car, buy my own house, so I
Speaker 4: can get my family out of the predicament that I
Speaker 4: grew up in, so that we don't have to repeat
Speaker 4: those same patterns. So if I were to sit here
Speaker 4: right now and think of what I can do to
Speaker 4: have some stress free days, I would say to I've
Speaker 4: learned this recently to build in Sunday to where I
Speaker 4: don't have any phone calls and I just do my
Speaker 4: own thing for that day and not worry about the
Speaker 4: stress of the outside world.
Speaker 2: And what about you, Michiela, Yeah, I for sure think
Speaker 2: that like a tradition or so they're gonna take about
Speaker 2: like spring break. It's just like when for me and
Speaker 2: as supposed to graduate, especially when Goo has her job,
Speaker 2: and like gen Z, this whole kind of exiting college
Speaker 2: and getting a job. Self advocacy is something that I'm
Speaker 2: going to consider more because gen Z hiring is having
Speaker 2: a lot of issues when it comes to taking breaks
Speaker 2: and having work loads, and you're young, you're in the office,
Speaker 2: so they're gonna throw a lot out you and be like, oh,
Speaker 2: they can do that, they can do this, they can
Speaker 2: do that. But when you're used to having four consistent
Speaker 2: years of a break or just your own autonomy and
Speaker 2: that type of thing, it's a hard transition to go
Speaker 2: into a place where you have to then prove that
Speaker 2: you need a break. But everybody needs one, and so
Speaker 2: I think just having a level of self advocacy and
Speaker 2: also just setting out on peers who might be in
Speaker 2: a samary situation in their workplace, no matter what kind
Speaker 2: of occupation we're in, two just it's gonna be hard,
Speaker 2: it's gonna be difficult, but you need a break, and
Speaker 2: if you're not getting opportunity to do so because of
Speaker 2: such a situation, then you know you have to be
Speaker 2: an advocate for yourself and make sure that that happens.
Speaker 1: Thank you so much for sharing that. It has been
Speaker 1: so much fun to hear more about all of the
Speaker 1: things that y'all have done for spring break and thoughts
Speaker 1: that you have around spring breaks for the future. But
Speaker 1: as we wrap up, please remind us where we can
Speaker 1: find you online, GIA, if you'll start by sharing any
Speaker 1: social media channels you'd like to share, you.
Speaker 4: Guys can find me at Gyrina on all socials. On LinkedIn,
Speaker 4: it is Jaya bacon So first named j Ya renee
Speaker 4: r e n e e E on Instagram and TikTok
Speaker 4: and I am currently building a website for college students
Speaker 4: surrounding around internship, scholarships, fellowships and mental health resources. I
Speaker 4: am calling it this Sunday Spread, so that will be
Speaker 4: available very soon and if you guys go follow that
Speaker 4: instam as well.
Speaker 2: Perfect, what about you, MICHAELA Yeah, So across my platforms,
Speaker 2: LinkedIn is just my first last name. It it's Michayla
Speaker 2: m I k n y l an you weary w
Speaker 2: E n r O y. I share all the things
Speaker 2: that I'm organizing and accomplishments and stuff like that on there.
Speaker 2: Then if you want to follow my Instagram or I
Speaker 2: post on my creative work, it is at b dot
Speaker 2: MV stands with black or the Berry. That is my
Speaker 2: independent curation and media company. So if you want to
Speaker 2: follow that, please do it.
Speaker 1: Perfect and Fatima yes.
Speaker 3: On LinkedIn and you can find me at my full name,
Speaker 3: so it's Fatima of A t I m A z
Speaker 3: z A h r A and Cassine k A s
Speaker 3: s I M. If you're looking for me on Instagram,
Speaker 3: it's Zara z a h r A A dot My
Speaker 3: last name Cassim k A s s I M. And
Speaker 3: I'm looking to be more active on my website. I
Speaker 3: have a website where I post different political and social
Speaker 3: issues surrounding black and diaspora places, and you can find
Speaker 3: that at kodzar dot com, which is k O y
Speaker 3: I d A z h r a dot com beautiful.
Speaker 1: We will be sure to include all of those in
Speaker 1: the show notes. Thank y'all so much for spending some
Speaker 1: time with me again today. I appreciate it.
Speaker 4: Thank you, thank you.
Speaker 1: I'm so glad the counsel was able to join me
Speaker 1: for today's conversation. Their honesty about navigating expectations, finances, and
Speaker 1: mental health during this time of year is such a
Speaker 1: powerful reminder that spring break doesn't have to look one way.
Speaker 1: Whether you're traveling, staying home, working, or resting, you deserve
Speaker 1: to choose what's to what's your well being. If you'd
Speaker 1: like to learn more about tvgu or explore more of
Speaker 1: our resources, visit the website at Therapy for Blackgirls dot com.
Speaker 1: Slash TVGU and don't forget to text this episode to
Speaker 1: two of your girls right now. This episode was produced
Speaker 1: by Elise Ellis, Indi Chubu, and Tyrie Rush. Editing was
Speaker 1: done by Dennis and Bradford. Thank y'all so much for
Speaker 1: joining me for another episode of TVGU. I look forward
Speaker 1: to continue in this conversation with you all real soon.
Speaker 1: Take it game,