Students vacation as war begins in Iraq

While many students were able to escape the pressure of class and homework over spring break, there was one reality they could not put out of their minds. Time ran out for Saddam Hussein, and American and Allied forces began dropping bombs in Iraq. News of the war was everywhere -- on TV, on the radio and on every front page.\n"Every place we went to had the news on at all times," said sophomore Jon Greene. Greene and his friend drove to Toronto, Canada for the break. Border security was beefed up when Greene and his companion returned from their trip towards the end of the week, but Greene said they were practically the only car trying to get back into the U.S.\nGreene said he noticed more of an anti-France sentiment than a pro-U.S. feeling. \n"Every time you told somebody you were from the states, they wanted to talk about the war," Greene said.\nSenior Christian Larson said he got a different reaction from the Canadians living in Montreal, where he spent his spring break. Larson spent the break volunteering at a cancer research center.\n"They are really upset in Montreal," he said. "They have very anti-American views."\nLarson said many Canadians in Montreal feel like Canada gets pushed around by the U.S., which creates resentment.\n"I spent more time paying attention to (the war) than I initially intended," he said.\nIn Las Vegas, sophomore Amy Chenoweth and her spring break group had a hard time peeling themselves away from the television reports about the news. Every time they were in the hotel, they had the television on, she said. \n"It was definitely a big part of the vacation," she said.\nChenoweth said it was interesting to see the contrast between the action "on the strip" and what was going on in the world.\n"It was like there wasn't a war going on," she said. "People down there were just in it for the entertainment." \nJunior Dan Shapiro did not travel to an exotic location, but venturing home to the Washington, D.C. area put him right in the middle of the action. Shapiro said he tried to stay as far away from the coverage as possible, only checking for updates when necessary.\n"People in D.C. are quite frightened," he said. "They are afraid they are going to be the first target."\nShapiro said he overheard people talking about where they could purchase a gas mask, and possible escape plans in case of an emergency.\nAs war broke out in Iraq last week, anti-war protests broke out in many major cities on across the U.S., including San Francisco, Chicago, New York, New Orleans and Washington D.C.\nShapiro said one of his spring break activities was participating in one of the D.C. protests that marched downtown and around the White House.\n"This trip was definitely atypical," he said.\nSophomore Jennifer Zengerling also chose to travel home for a few days over break, and watched the war unfold with her family.\n"I was sort of afraid to travel from one place to another," she said.\nZengerling said she has a friend in the Army who is presently overseas, but has not been in contact with him since the war started. She said she was very attached to the television coverage before the war started, but tapered her media consumption as the week went on.\n"It definitely brought my mood down," she said.