The second week of March is right around the corner, which means the students of the University of Pittsburgh are heading their separate ways for a much-deserved spring break. Whether you\u2019re boarding a flight to San Juan, hopping in the car to take the Pennsylvania Turnpike all the way home to just outside of Philadelphia or snuggling up in your South Oakland apartment, please remember that your safety doesn\u2019t take a break, even when you do.\u00a0<\/p>\n
For those who are driving home for a week in their hometown, check before merging lanes. Sleep for 16 hours straight, and log out of all your inboxes. For those traveling with friends for the week, let loose and have fun. You only get so many vacations, especially as a college student with some of your closest friends.\u00a0<\/p>\n
For drinking responsibly\n<\/p>\n
If you\u2019re going to a sunny, all-inclusive resort, drink adequate amounts of water and put on sunscreen. If you\u2019re of legal drinking age wherever you may be, indulge in a beer or a cocktail, but don\u2019t leave it unattended. If you do leave it unattended, order a new one. Send your loved ones pictures of what you\u2019re up to, the views of your stay and the details of your most recent endeavor. They\u2019re probably hoping that you\u2019re having the time of your life and an amazing spring break.<\/p>\n
For sticking together\u00a0\n<\/p>\n
Make sure someone not in your party knows what your itinerary is, and use the buddy system, no matter how tired you might be of your travel companions. Take strangers for what they are \u2014 strange. Don\u2019t break loose from your group. If you\u2019re in the group, don\u2019t let someone break loose. Keep your hotel room or space for the time being locked and secure your valuables. Make an emergency plan with your travel companions in the event of a worst-case scenario, but take the measures you can to ensure it never comes to a worst-case scenario.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Exchange locations with those you\u2019re traveling with, even just for the time being. Check in with your friends often, and never leave them behind. You\u2019re likely not in Hemingway\u2019s Cafe, but instead a foreign country or location that you\u2019re not entirely familiar with.\u00a0<\/p>\n
You can have fun and be safe, and one never has to come at the expense of the other. When you\u2019re out with friends and exploring a new country, state or location, it\u2019s easy to get swept up and forget some of the best practices that have been drilled into us since childhood. However, forgetting or ignoring these best practices can have traumatic and life-long consequences. Wherever your spring break takes you, be sure to enjoy the time off while bearing in mind that safety can\u2019t afford to take a break.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The Pitt News editorial is a weekly article written by the opinion editors in collaboration with other desk editors. It reflects the collective opinion of the current Pitt News editorial staff.<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The second week of March is right around the corner, which means the students of the University of…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":129295,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[60132,73,75,74,7363,59700],"class_list":["post-129294","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-pittsburgh","tag-best-practices","tag-pittsburgh","tag-pittsburgh-headlines","tag-pittsburgh-news","tag-safety","tag-spring-break"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/129294","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=129294"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/129294\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/129295"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=129294"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=129294"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=129294"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}