This past week, I left my dorm in the early hours of the morning bundled up to find a strange phenomenon; a bright ball lighting the sky without any snow falling.
Thankfully, since the University of Rochester is known for its optics, I was able to meet with a professor immediately. He had recently completed some research to conclude that it was called the Sun.
For those of you who were a little bit unsure how to handle the balmy 32 degrees and sunny skies like me, have no fear: after going home for spring break, Rochester will still feel really cold when you get back! Given that if a groundhog sees its shadow we get six more weeks of winter, I can only imagine what it would mean if the groundhogs behind Sue B. couldn’t get out of the snow.
Here are a few tips to battle through the awkward weeks of winter after spring break!
1. Someone once said, “Fake it till you make it.” I can only assume he was talking about the seasons and telling us college students in Rochester that if we pretend its spring long enough, it will actually be spring. Therefore, ditch the winter coats and bring out the shorts and t-shirts. If you get cold, just think about how you are faking spring and this is bound to make it spring eventually. In addition ,shivering can theoretically add some kinetic energy to the world, and energy and heat are related somehow, right?
2. Wear flip flops. Since the snow is melting, we now have puddles, or as I like to think of them, mini lakes, everywhere on campus. Where there is a lake, there is a lakefront. Prior to college, my parents told me to take advantage of opportunities…not taking advantage of lake days is the opposite. Also, wearing flip flops will make your feet so cold that they will probably start to hurt or potentially turn black. This pain will distract you from how cold the rest of your body is. As for the puddles on the Phase bridge, a canoe could also help for the puddles. Unfortunately, canoes don’t come cheap, and fitting them into your dorm room wouldn’t be easy.
3. Make sure to bask in the sunlight on the quads while it lasts. After hibernating for the past several months tucked away in the basement of the stacks in order to not get distracted by the lack of nice weather (or midterms if you’re into that sort of thing), you probably need to replenish vitamin D. Also, laying down in the snow is probably a great form of cryotherapy and definitely won’t feel unpleasant at all.
Now that you are ready to conquer the cold, you should be ready to embrace fully the Rochester spring and the sort of days the school used to trick us with on accepted student days.
Kuhrt is a member of
the class of 2017.
