Novel vacations range from potatoes to paradise
GO AHEAD
LAUGH
MASON WEST
SPRING BREEEAAAK,
YEAH! Whew, now that I’ve
gotten that out of my system,
it’ll be easier to survive the
seven-week wait until the migra
tion to Mexico. Not for me though.
What’s so special about Mexico any
way? The chinking age is low and
the temperature is high, but that
doesn’t mean it’s Shangri-La. There
are other places on this earth worthy
of my valuable tourist dollars, and I
made it my mission to find one.
I began my search for the next
spring break hot spot where any
technology-savvy traveler would:
the Internet. My searches for
“spring break” yielded nothing but
talk of Mexico, college and bikinis,
the very things I was running from.
I didn’t have time to sort through
the 1.5 million sites hoping that
one would reveal my destination,
so I had to buckle down and do
what every college student fears:
think.
After a solid hour in the position
of Auguste Rodin’s “The Thinker,”
I started feeling hungry. Hungry for
potatoes— Idaho! This query
eventually led me to a quaint city
in Idaho called Moscow. Moscow,
the 1 Oth largest city in the Gem
State, is home to the University of
Idaho, the state’s oldest educational
institution. With a population only
slightly larger than the enrollment in
our University, the town should be
completely deserted come spring.
The town will easily allow a peace
ful day of skiing with your com
rades. And there will be plenty of
places to sit around drinking vodka
and talking about the good old days
when the Mother Country was
strong.
But e ven though the novelty val
ue of telling your buddies you went
to Moscow for spring break is high,
it’s not really a stellar spring break
destination.
Back to Rodin. This time, I
thought about the pearly beaches
from “Cast Away,” which I recently
saw. That is what I want in my vir
gin spring break destination. After
all, Tom Hanks seemed to be hav
ing a great time on the island. So
the question remained: Where can I
find an island? The obvious answer
is Micronesia.
The Federated States of Microne
sia are composed of607 separate is
lands and divided into four states.
With only 65 inhabited islands, I’m
guaranteed to have some space to
myself and try out that great “Cast
Away” diet. Did you hear how many
pounds Hanks lost for that movie?
The one state that stood out from
the others was Yap. While it was
the odd name that first caught my
attention, it soon became apparent
that there was much more to this
place than a cheap laugh.
Yap consists of four major is
lands and a handful of smaller is
lands. The four main islands are ac
tually connected by roads, which
may warrant a visit just to see how
that works. It is known as the land
of stone money because of the large
stone discs that reside on the is
land-proper. These rocks are still
used by the islanders for some
transactions, and I was worried
about finding a good dollar/rock
exchange rate. But Yap is prepared
to cater to my ethnocentric sensi
bilities by supporting the U.S. dol
lar as the official currency and Eng
lish as the official language.
While Yap would be inaccessi
ing. They take my money, speak
my language and will provide my
underage self with alcohol, all
without the presence of MTV or
anyone who would want to be on
it.
Then I find the catch: To visit Yap,
you have to get permission from the
government through an application
process. I guess they don’t want just
anybody in paradise, but I
could hurt myself
if I tried think
ing anymore.
ble to me without
such accommoda
tions, it would be a
shame to lose touch
with the Yapese lan
guage. In my self
taught online lesson,
I learned the three
most important
phrases: “Hike,” “I
don’t like” and “how
much?” They fol
low: “gub adug,”
“dabug”and “im
pulwon.”Ithink
there is some sublim
inal messaging in that
last phrase. If you
sound it out phonetical
ly, it’s not too far off from
“I’m payin’.”
It seemed that I had found
the island paradise I was seek
An entertaining and intelligent satire of the Victorian Empire
and its rigid attitudes* especially toward sex
January 18-February 10,2001
By Coryt Churchill Directed by Corey Pearisteln
TICKETS 46S-1 506
Limited Student Tickets Available!
$5 for Thursday 1 /18, $7 for Sunday 1 /20
Lord Leebriek Theatre Company
540 Chamettort, Eugene
with the
Symphony
February 14
8 pm
Romance reigns
with Portland's
most glamorous
band.
Hult Center
682-5000
Artist Spqnsor
Dick & Sue Schubert & Friends
010215
Commtnty
Center far the
Performing Arts
8th &
Lincoln
■ Tonight ■
Eric lohnson £ Alien
Love Child and
The Derek Tracks Band
tUiws-Rock
$22.50 advance, $25 door, 7:00 pm
■Friday ■
Ford II Tout
Atmosphere,Eyedea
HiJf-HoJ)
$10 advance, $12 door, 8:00 pm
■ Saturday ■
Bob Marley Birthday
Celebration with
BoomShaka
Rcggcie
$8.00 in advance, $10 door, 9:00 pm
■ Sunday ■
An Evening with
Hie Trey Gunn Band
Progressive Rock
$10 advance, $12 door, 7:30 pm
■ Wednesday ■
Southern Culture
on the Skids,
Amazing Crowns, Hie Danced
Roots Rock
$8 advance, $10 door, 8:00 pm
All Ages Welcome • 687-2746
Time flies, so book
overseas travel now
■ International flights
become spendier and harder
to reserve as spring break
rapidly approaches
By Kendall Larsen
for the Emerald
Those students who dream of
traveling to distant lands to spend
their spring break days need not
look any further. International
travel requires some extra time to
plan but can make the break an
even more memorable experience.
Those who wait until the very
last minute to plan an internation
al vacation will have quite a bit of
trouble in finalizing their trip. Lau
rie Nibblett, a certified travel con
sultant for Ambassador Travel Ser
vices, gave this advice: “Plan way
in advance.”
Spending extra time on plan
ning does not have to be a difficult
chore. Travel agencies such as Am
bassador offer a number of free
services to help voyagers complete
their oh-so-long checklists and
leave home with peace of mind.
The more flexible people are
with their traveling dates, the bet
ter chance they have of booking
flight reservations at this point,
Nibblett said. Before too long,
there will be almost no flights left
for departure on Saturday, March
24, and return on Saturday, March
31.
“The more mid-week [Monday
Thursdayl you can travel, the bet
ter rates you will get,” Nibblett
added.
The plus side is that because
this is the “down season,” a round
trip ticket from Eugene to London
would only be about $650, Nib
blett said.
Costs vary, however. Yumi Aoy
agi, a senior international studies
major who frequently flies interna
tionally, said her tickets to Latin
America are usually about $1,500.
“Going to Japan is cheaper,” she
said.
Next comes the passport. Inter
national vacationers who do not
already have passports need to
take care of this as soon as possi
ble. Applying in person ensures a
faster delivery of the passport, and
it can be done at the main post of
fice at 520 Willamette St..
You will need two recent full
face photos, two inches by two
inches in size. There is a fee of
$60, plus a $35 “rush” fee if you
need the passport within 10 days.
You must also bring proof of iden
tity, which could be a drivers li
cense, and proof of U.S. citizen
ship, such a birth certificate.
Normally, it takes about six
weeks to receive a passport by
mail, so there is still time for the
spring break deadline. Check the
United States travel Web site at
www.travel.state.gov for more in
formation on passports and visas,
which are required for visiting
most countries.
Travel agencies are an excellent
resource for easy, hassle-free plan
ning. However, with the rise of do
it-yourself Internet travel re
sources, the Web is a smart place
to look for lodging, car rentals and
plane tickets. A comprehensive
site to try is Arthur Frommer’s
Budget Travel at
www.frommers.com.
Angela Biancalana, a freshman
communications pre-major whose
family lives in Germany, has an
important recommendation once
plans are finalized.
“When traveling international
ly,” she said, “you should open
yourself up and absorb the culture
around you. It’s amazing to see
how the smallest differences make
our worlds so diverse.”