Yeah, it falls around the midterm, but that doesn't mean all that much. I mean, if we were going to get breaks based on the semester being divided into fractions, I'd much rather the semesters be divided into thirds, or better yet, thirtieths.

It doesn't fall on a holiday. Or at least not a widely recognized one. October 18 is apparently Alaska Day, National Chocolate Cupcake Day, Little Orphan Annie's birthday, and the anniversary of Puerto Rico becoming a U.S. colony, but since the mail still runs, I guess they're just not important enough. The closest holiday to fall break is Halloween, which really isn't even a holiday itself (again, the mail runs). And people still go to work on Halloween.

Really the only thing different about the workday of Halloween is that the weird guy is way more likely to embarrass himself with his Michael Bolton costume when he goes to the office party.

I suppose since it's called "fall break," it's intended to simply be some sort of seasonal thing. And true, there is a break every season. Summer is a break in and of itself; winter has the Christmas break and spring break is either a weeklong stint of debauchery or the lawn mowing that Dad said you need to do. But fall break just seems out of place.

First off, it's one day. Now, don't get me wrong, I appreciate what I get, and I tried hard to enjoy every minute of last Friday (mainly through the beautiful, beautiful practice of sleep), and I completely understand why Wake Forest can only offer that one day, given that we start a lot later than other schools, among other reasons.

Contrary to popular belief, no one doesn't want a day off, even the administration. But, compared to the other seasonal breaks, it seems like fall gets the short end of the stick.

Plus, it seems like, despite the fact that it's only one day, everyone here seems to get the impression that it's several weeks. A lot of people take very long trips home on fall break. I can perfectly understand that, too ¯ I like going home and eating mom's cooking just as much as anyone else.

But frankly, fall break isn't that much more than a weekend. Appreciate it for what it is, folks: a three-day weekend.

I heard I don't know how many people talking on Thursday about how they were going to have to try to figure out what to pack for fall break. Folks, you're going to be staying at home or going on a trip for maybe three nights. You're not going summering in Venice. So take three sets of clothes for the appropriate weather and you're set.

Similarly, I heard a lot of the question "So, what're you doing over fall break?" Granted, it's an easy way to make conversation (it usually comes after one of those delightful awkward pauses), but it implies the entirely wrong thing. It implies that you can actually do anything over fall break.

Which brings me to my next point. Fall break isn't really a break at all if you think about it. Because of the one day of no class, the day after the fall break weekend is an easy target for teachers to make assignments due. Plus, this isn't high school, and fall break isn't a teacher's workday.

Yeah, so it's a day without class. Guess what? Most of the work you do isn't done in class anyway. And with lots of assignments due, it's pretty likely you do more work over fall break than you do most other weekends. At least I did.

So, in retrospect, what has fall break meant to me? I'm still not entirely sure. But I know how I feel. I'm fall broken.