For some UF students, Winter Break is a time to celebrate the holidays, while Spring Break is a week to booze with friends.
But for others, the breaks are times to aid people who need help the most.
Florida Alternative Breaks, a student-run service organization based in the Center for Leadership and Service in the Dean of Students Office at UF, provides the opportunity for students to go on weeklong community-service trips to address social issues in areas in the United States and internationally, according to the organization's Web site.
Sneha Patel, Florida Alternative Breaks spokeswoman, said her experience helping people through the organization was rewarding because she could see and feel the immediate effects of her service.
Patel, who has been on three trips with FAB, said the one moment she will never forget was when she was in Washington, D.C., helping illegal immigrants at a detainee center.
One immigrant from Jamaica asked her what she was doing, and his jaw dropped when she said she wasn't getting paid to help him.
He couldn't believe she gave up her Spring Break to help "people like him," she said.
Patel also recalled the disaster relief she did two summers ago when she worked to rebuild a city garden in Biloxi, Miss., after Hurricane Katrina.
It was hot and miserable, she said.
Local people would drive by and honk at the UF students, and everyone would yell "thank you," she said.
"When it was hot and we were tired, it kept us going, kept us motivated, and reminded us of why we're there and who we're there to help," Patel said.
This winter, there are four different trips from Dec. 16 to Dec. 21.
Each trip has different issues for the groups to focus on, according to the Web site.
The first is Native American Reservation Immersion, which helps students learn about a different culture.
Another trip helps people who have been a part of the criminal justice system, and it teaches students about understanding the needs and concerns for their surroundings.
The other two topics deal with domestic animal issues and homelessness and poverty.
Applications are accepted year-round, and each year about 315 students participate in the alternative breaks, which have dealt with issues such as global warming and environmental stability in the past.
Students have changed their majors and career paths because of their life-changing experiences with FAB, including Patel.
She said her experiences helped initiate her passion for counseling people, and it ignited her goal to become a therapist.
Many friendships are also born through FAB trips, said Wanda Wang, the organization's fundraising director. People form close bonds with their site groups, which usually consist of about 14 people, because they are "literally together 24/7," she said.
Wang has been on three alternative breaks, during one of which she and 11 other UF students went to Nashville, Tenn., to help empower women who had been battered by their husbands or someone they knew.
She said that during a reflection of their trip, every member cried together.
"Twelve strangers told each other their life stories you don't tell other people," she said.
