Canc??n, Daytona Beach and Acapulco are popular spring break locations among college students, but for those not interested in these typical trips, there are many alternatives involving service projects as well as sightseeing.
This year, Alternative Breaks, a student-run committee, is offering 11 different spring break trips that combine travel with charity work, offering students different options from the \typical"" spring break.
""You get to see a side of a city that you wouldn't see as a sightseer or a tourist ... things you can't get out of a guidebook,"" said Megan Lipke, Alternative Breaks director and UW-Madison senior.
Alternative Breaks trips range from helping immigrant students develop English skills and learn more about American culture in New York to restoring trails and counting wild horses at Cumberland Island National Seashore in Georgia, Lipke said.
Trips range in price from $100 to $200. The price includes transportation and lodging, and some trips include food, she said.
One of Lipke's most memorable alternative breaks was her trip to New York.
""I really enjoyed when I was in New York just talking to people,"" she said.
Lipke had the opportunity to speak with a group of Muslim immigrants about their reaction to 9/11.
Many students living in university housing have planned similar service trips for spring break.
A group of 16 students from Bradley Learning Community is heading to Philadelphia to help with various programs in the area. Half the students will work with Metropolitan AIDS Neighborhood Nutrition Alliance, a non-profit organization that brings meals to homebound AIDS patients.
The other half of the students will plan programs and activities for children in a transitional housing program who are also on spring break but have nothing to do, said Virginia Kamp, BLC Alternative Break student coordinator and UW-Madison freshman.
""We had our last meeting last night and I think that we all felt the same way that we're really excited to get outside the box of campus and really make a difference for someone else instead of just focusing entirely on our studies here,"" Kamp said.
UW-Madison junior Callie O'Neil, who will be taking her second alternative break, is heading to Philadelphia with the BLC.
""I went on an alternative break last year and it was one of the best experiences I've ever had with a group a people I didn't know very well before I went,"" O'Neil said.
