Spring break adventures take students to new coordinates

On Wednesday afternoon, two friends take advantage of the bike trail along Ocean Drive. Miami Beach has wide paths specifically for bikers and implemeting the Deco Bike program to make the city more biker-friendly. Cayla Nimmo // Photo Editor

Though movies repeatedly recreate spring break scenes with endless parties, this year’s spring break provided more for University of Miami students, many of whom traveled for fun and unexpected surprises.

Freshman Carlen Dickerson, a broadcast journalism major and novice breaker, traveled to Bimini in the Bahamas with four other UM students during spring break to take part in the wild week planned by STFU & Party, a promotional company catered to college students.

“We’d go and party all day, party all night, and go to sleep at like 4 or 5 a.m.,” Dickerson said.

Bimini buzzes with Miami tourists because it is only 53 miles away from South Florida, serving as the closest end of the Bahamas to the U.S. mainland. However, its proximity and popularity have made Bimini overly expensive, Dickerson said.

“It was beautiful, but I would never ever go back. … The only thing I ate the entire time I was there was a $17 panini, because the food was so expensive,” she said.

Dickerson saw the tropical island as an opportunity to get creative with her sustenance. Her villa was located near the beach, so a typical Bimini morning involved shell hunting, but Dickerson also found a coconut one day – her favorite moment during a stressful trip, she said.

“I found a coconut on the ground, found a sharp rock and made a hole in the coconut, added some rum and some ice, and had my own coconut drink made from scratch,” Dickerson said.

Meanwhile, in a place with much cooler temperatures and larger population, junior Maria Claudia made her way to a life milestone: an engagement.

Claudia, an architecture student from Brazil, was visiting New York City with her boyfriend of nearly six years, where he had planned a trip to the top of the Empire State Building to watch the sun go down over the city.

“I’m an architecture major, so I really like this kind of thing,” Claudia said. “He started to ask me a lot of questions.”

“Are you happy? Are you 100 percent happy? How can you be happier?” he questioned her.

Claudia said she had no idea he was planning to propose then and there, but he took her shyness about public displays of affection into consideration.

“He asked me to close my eyes and open my hand. … He put the opened little box on my hand and said the famous phrase,” Claudia said. “I was like, ‘Oh my god!’”

According to Claudia, she didn’t say anything when her fiancé proposed because she was in shock. It was only when he nervously said he was waiting for her answer that she accepted.

“I’m not so romantic, but my fiancé is the best at doing beautiful things,” Claudia said. “I loved every single detail.”