When most people think spring break they think of sun, warmth and the beach. They think of tropical places, bathing suits and drinks with little umbrellas. I spent my spring break in Montreal. It was cold. I found myself bundling up and wishing I was in Massachusetts where it was warm(er).

But my friends and I decided to go to Montreal anyway. It was it was frigid outside. But I figured, since I've never done anything exciting for spring break (freshman year I stayed home and did nothing, sophomore year I had my wisdom teeth out and junior year I was doing an internship in Washington D.C. and I did not get a spring break), I would leap at the chance. What I thought would be a wild week of partying and clubbing turned out to be something much more

Most nights my friends and I opted out of going to bars and clubs because A - we didn't want to go out in the cold and B - some of the cover charges were high ($75 high). We discovered the latter online. Some of the clubs did not list charges and we did not want to walk 45 minutes in the cold to find out that we could not afford to pay.

We probably saved a lot of money that way. By staying in and drinking our own alcohol and juice mixes we managed to bond, enjoy each other's company, tell ridiculous jokes, and play drinking games including Kings and Never, ever have I...

We still did spend a lot of money on food and shopping, but by staying in most of the nights we saved a lot of money. The nights we did go out, we spent a lot. One night I ended up spending way more than I would have paid in the U.S.

So, if you do want to go away on spring break, even if you don't have a lot of money, you can save a lot by bringing your own fun. All you really need are good friends, a sense of humor and enough money to make sure you don't die from starvation.