Spend Spring Break 2008 in the Galapagos Islands, Help the Earth

January may be almost over, and February may have nothing for you to look forward to except Valentine’s Day (which, for a lot of us, is a poor excuse of a holiday). But March is certainly coming, and it’s bringing with it two of the most amazing words in the English language: Spring Break.

Now, a lot of you out there may associate Spring Break with places like Cancun, Florida, the Bahamas, and other tropical paradises where there’s nothing to do except drink weird fruity things with tiny paper umbrellas floating in them.

And while I have nothing against fruity drinks and paper umbrellas (not to mention scantily clad people lathered up with suntan lotion), Spring Break can be a time for more than just getting a tan and having seven nights of hook-ups you regret later. It can be a time to actually do some good.

The Isabela Oceanographic Institute (IOI), a Florida-based non-profit organization that deals with both American and European study abroad programs, has one of the most amazing Spring Break opportunities around: spend a week in the Galapagos islands while researching ways for them to stay self sufficient. Not a bad deal!

Not only do you get 3 credits, room and board, and professors from all over the world, but you also get to do things like snorkel with sharks, horseback ride along the rim of volcanoes, and check out those famous giant Galapagos turtles you’ve read about.

The week concludes with discussions and analysis of ways to help perpetuate a healthy fishing culture on the island.

The due date for the Spring Break application is February 10th, so you better get your papers in quickly—but even if you can’t move things around fast enough, the Isabela Oceanographic Institute has a summer and semester option.

Beaches, tropical sun, snorkeling, tans—I see nothing wrong with this equation. Tell all your friends to have a good time getting wasted at skeezy places like Senior Frogs, and that you’ll mail them a postcard from the Galapagos Islands.