This Spring Break, do not bring home any unwanted hitchhikers like STDs.

Spring break is just around the corner, and a road trip during this time has almost become a mandatory part of a college education. During break, universities see a mass exodus as the majority of the student population migrates south to warmer climates and an opportunity to blow off steam. This break gives young adults a jumpstart on summer fun and a tan while relieving mid-term stress.

For many, a spring fling has an undeniable appeal. Between hormones, heat, and massive quantities of alcohol, clothing tends to disappear, inhibitions lower, and common sense flies out the window. Mix in some encouraging peer pressure and the atmosphere is ripe for love or at least, a one night hook-up.

When sex on the beach becomes more than a mixed drink, do not bury your head in the sand by believing that an STD will never happen to you. Practicing safe sex or abstaining from sex are the only ways to ensure you will not be bringing home any unwanted hitchhikers such as chlamydia, trichomoniasis, gonorrhea, syphilis or HIV.

Even though you feel great as you leave the sandy beaches behind; parasites, bacterium and viruses are already at work invading your system. The time it takes to drive back home and spend a week on campus is roughly the same amount of time as the incubation period for many STDs. As students head into the final quarter of the school year, symptoms begin to appear. At first, it is just an annoying itch that is easy enough to ignore. However, it does not go away. A few days later, it burns when you urinate. A bladder infection? Not quite. It is usually not until there is a yellow or greenish discharge that you decide to consult a doctor.

In the weeks following spring break, Student Health Services at college campuses are inundated by new patients with an age-old problem - sexually transmitted diseases. For the fortunate majority, these STDs can be diagnosed by sight or a lab test, and can be cured with antibiotics. These lucky ones will hopefully learn from a painful lesson and use condoms from that point onward.

Some, however, are not so lucky. They may experience no symptoms and feel as if they have dodged a bullet when, in fact, they are harboring a much more sinister illness - HIV. Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) takes up to six months before showing itself and carries with it a death sentence. Although HIV can be slowed, it cannot be stopped.

So, when packing your suitcase for spring break, make certain to include some condoms and common sense. You will be the best dressed student on the beach.