For many students, fall break will just be a two-day break from classes.
Catching up on school assignments, being lazy and working to earn money were the most common responses to the question, “What are you doing for fall break?”
Some students, however, are using fall break to travel.
Visiting friends or family is a common reason for a trip.
Tina Ndangwa, international business freshman, is flying to Jacksonville, Fla., to visit her aunt.
“I’ve been one time before,” she said, “and I enjoyed it that time.”
She has no plans to go sightseeing or visit any tourist attractions, but Jacksonville does have many options for tourists.
It is located on the eastern side of Florida. Like many of Florida’s other cities, Jacksonville is close to the beach, and that provides a wide variety of recreational activities, such as golfing, fishing and tennis.
There also are cultural aspects to this Florida city, such as the Jacksonville Museum of Modern Art and the Museum of Science & Industry.
The Budweiser Brewery may also be worth a visit.
Hotel prices in Jacksonville run from about $50 to $80 a night. This is similar to the hotel prices in Pensacola, Fla., a gulf coast city about 3 hours away from New Orleans.
Overall, those hotel prices are cheaper than the hotel prices in Destin, Fla., a popular beach getaway.
The Loyola Asian Students Organization is having a day out at the beach Monday. They’re not traveling far, though.
They’re heading to Coconut Beach, a man-made sand volleyball complex located near the lake.
“We’re going to play volleyball and barbecue, so people can get to know each other,” Ashifur Rahman, biology senior, said. “Anyone that wants to can come,” he said. “The actual picnic is from 12 to 3” p.m.
Marketing senior David Duke said he is going to Auburn, Ala. to visit friends.
Duke transferred to Loyola from Auburn University in his sophomore year.
“We’re going to go to a football game, going to visit friends,” he said. “Football there is huge. [My friends and I] take turns visiting each other. They come here, I go there.”
Auburn is the reason most people go to the town, and many of the attractions and hotels are centered around the university.
Hotels run an average of about $60 per night, with the prices increasing on game day.
Duke said that he and his friends would probably drive to Atlanta to take in some of the nightlife.
Kamal Kieck, international business sophomore, is also visiting friends who attend other colleges.
He is going to Dallas to visit a friend who attends Southern Methodist University.
They are then going to travel to Texas A&M in College Station and Texas Christian University in Fort Worth, he said.
“We’ve got friends all over the place,” he said. “We’re probably going to go to a (Dallas) Cowboys game, a water park, the mall, things like that.”
Also, Six Flags over Texas will be having a “Fright Fest” this weekend in anticipation of Halloween.
The Women’s Museum, a national center focusing on contributions women have made to the world, is also located in Dallas.
Because Dallas is a big city, there are many hotels to choose from; many are between the $50 and $90.
Drama junior Kristi Jacobs will be traveling with the rest of the cast of “The Children’s Hour” to Shreveport to compete in the state-level of the Kennedy Center American College Theater Festival.
“The festival is a chance to share our work with other colleges and to see the work of other artists from around the state,” Jacobs said.
The group will be at the festival for only two days of the week-long festival, so they will not have a chance to attend as many workshops or performances as they may have liked.
“There will be workshops for us to attend while we aren’t performing,” Jacobs said. “We will also see two other productions while we are there.”
She said she does not mind using her fall break to do school-related things.
“I devote as much time as possible to studying my art,” she said, “and if that means going to competition while on fall break, then that’s what I’ll do. And we’ll get back in enough time to still have a little break.”
