MIA on Spring Break!

At the beginning of March, UF broke up for spring break. The clichéd American way to spend it (or so the media led me to believe prior to coming here) is somewhere hot, with lots of alcohol, very little sleep and questionable living conditions. However I spent it at a training camp (who needs somewhere hot when you live in Florida?!). Training twice a day on the water definitely takes it out of you, so by the time the weekend came I was definitely shattered, and when it came to going back to classes I didn’t really feel like I’d had much time off. Luckily, this was about to be rectified!

Over Christmas, my parents told me that they decided that they wanted to come and visit me in Florida. After lots of debating about dates and destinations got booked. A long weekend in Miami (chosen by my mum) and a week following that in Gainesville!

Flash forwards to March 10th, and you have me getting on a plane to meet my parents at Miami International Airport (MIA… do you see what I did with the title there!). The only downside to this was waiting for three hours in arrivals for them to get through immigration, but it was worth it!

The weekend was packed with as much as we could fit in. Friday saw us exploring South Beach, an extremely popular tourist destination. Although it wasn’t my spring break, it was for other colleges (clearly seen by the amount of students milling about!). We took ourselves on a walking tour of the Art Deco District with all of the free leaflets, before stopping for cocktails on Ocean Drive (one more thing to check off my Florida bucket list!). Although it was busy it was still fun, spying on all the expensive convertibles driving by (I saw enough Ferrari’s and Lamborghini’s to last a lifetime!). And of course, a trip to the beach.

On Saturday we went to the Bill Baggs Cape Florida State Park (aka …the Real Florida) on Key Biscayne, which was incredibly beautiful. We went on a walk around the bottom of the island along the coast, to some stunning ocean views, a harbour and an abundance of lizards. The tip of the island has a lighthouse hosting some even more incredible views from the top! Again we hit the beach before going back to the hotel.

Look out for my next blog post, when my parents visit Gainesville!