Spring break soundtrack

Graphic by Caitlin Orsino

My suitemates and I all have our own “Song of the Day” playlists where we add a different track for every day of the year. It’s a way to document and reminisce about our days with each other. The following six songs are from my suite’s spring break trip to Puerto Rico, summarizing the fun times and chaos that the week brought us.

“I’m Gonna Be (500 Miles)” by The Proclaimers

While planning this trip we made one crucial mistake; we decided to not rent a car, under the impression that we would be able to Uber to and from our Airbnb whenever we needed. We were incorrect. After a long day of traveling with nothing but Dunkin Donuts bagels in our systems, we quickly learned that it was actually nearly impossible to Uber anywhere from our house without scheduling the car a day in advance.

We found this out at about 5 p.m., when we were trying to get food for dinner. Stranded at our Airbnb and unable to walk to grocery stores and restaurants, we tried and failed to schedule cars and Doordash dinner for three hours. With one last Hail Mary attempt at getting dinner, we decided to embark on a forty minute uphill walk to the closest restaurant.

We began our walk down the winding, pitch-black roads of the hill we lived on. When we reached the last turn of the walk, we learned that the resort was gated off for the night with no way to get in. Defeated, we turned around and made the journey home. The six of us then booked a rental car and split the two protein bars and three chocolate chip cookies leftover from the plane. When our bellies were slightly fuller and we had a guaranteed way of getting around, we were able to laugh at our stupid mistake and figure out the perfect song of the day.

“You’re So Vain” by Carly Simon

Now that we had a car and groceries, we were ready to take on the world. As we made our way down to the beach for the first time, “You’re So Vain” played from our speaker. Surrounded by palm trees and under a clear blue sky, my suitemates and I sang along with Carly Simon and couldn’t help but dance as we stepped onto the sand.

“Chemtrails Over the Country Club” by Lana Del Rey

We listened to quite a bit of Lana while laying out on the beach that week, but this specific song was the one that made it onto the playlist. It was decided while my roommates and I swam in the ocean, with my roommate Evie singing the chorus (and probably getting the words wrong) as we floated in the water.

“Jungle” by A Boogie Wit da Hoodie

This song is one of my roommate Mikayla’s personal favorites, and we had the perfect chance to play it on our trip. With all of us piled into our life-saving rental car, we played this song as we drove down the narrow road through El Yunque National Forest, the only tropical rainforest in the United States. Here, we hiked the Angelito Trail, where we walked among huge, tropical trees and swam in crystal clear water.

“Change Your Ticket” by One Direction

We finished our trip very similarly to the way we started it—with unfortunate transportation issues. We got to the airport for our 3:40 p.m. flight around noon, confident that we would be home within a few short hours. It was quickly delayed by a half hour, then again until 9:45 p.m. We tried to keep morale high by playing Uno and talking with the other college kids at our gate, but soon after we were meant to be boarding the plane, an announcement came over the intercom.

Our flight was canceled. After a few hours of standing in line with the dozens of other students trying to get back to Boston, we failed to book a hotel room for the night. As a last resort, we slept on the airport floor. With our ticket changed and nothing left to do besides wait it out, we settled in for the night.

“Long Way Home” by 5 Seconds of Summer

We found a big, empty room behind the baggage claim and set up camp on the cold tile floor. Laying on our suitcases and using dirty clothes as pillows and sandy beach towels as blankets, we took shifts to stay awake throughout the night. Bright and early the next morning, we made the journey back through bag check and TSA one last time. We sat with the same spring breakers we’d befriended the night before, all of us in the same rumpled clothes and looking a bit worse for wear.

Twenty-two hours after we first stepped foot into the San Juan airport, we were finally heading home.