As the leaves were falling last year, I felt the need to vent about my deep seated hatred for winter in an article. The grievances I detailed have all come and gone now, thanks to the changing of seasons. This shift in weather has come earlier than any I've previously experienced living in Illinois, and, because of it I'm falling deeply in love with Missouri. So in the spirit of warmer weather and longer days, I've decided to create the counterpart to my article condemning winter. I hope you can relate.
The first and most obvious upshot to spring weather is the change in clothing. The days of layering clothing as if preparing for a NASA space mission have ended. Instead, you've begun to slowly test the waters as far as what you can comfortably wear. You walk to class only to find that you really don't need that coat, hat, gloves, scarf and hoodie. The result is you arriving to class looking as though you're bringing a full change of clothes for a friend who got caught streaking. Soon, however, you get a better feel for just what warm temperatures feel like. You now feel like you would prefer walking around campus wearing a toga just to get the most out of the weather.
Another side effect of spring arriving is that mornings are darker and longer. Walking to an 8 a.m. in winter months is the true definition of an odyssey. You have to risk frostbite, hypothermia and polar bear attacks as you trudge across your seemingly planet-sized campus. However, in warmer months, it's brighter later in the morning due to Daylight Savings Time. You can comfortably walk across campus to that same 8 a.m., except in pitch black darkness. The earlier you leave for class, the worse it is. Often times you find yourself wondering if your roommate pulled a terrible prank and switched your clock, and now you're walking to an 8 p.m. class. Either way, these journeys are a small price to pay for some decent temps.
The last side effect of toastier weather is the internal struggle created by sitting in class on a gorgeous day. You sit in your lecture hall or classroom, realizing that you are sitting in an artificially lit cave while every other person on the face of the earth is frolicking in the sunshine. These moments of pure agony are psychologically grueling, tempting you to just stand up and throw your pasty body out a window in order to get a taste of some sunshine. Though, if you're able to endure the ordeal which is trying to pay attention to a lecture whilst wasting wonderful weather, you are eventually rewarded. After the first backpack zips in class, the tidal wave of everyone packing up drowns out the professor to the point that they simply give up speaking. You sling your backpack over your shoulder like a world traveler and strut out the door, shoving (even kicking) the doors wide open to the outside world. No feeling can compare to stepping back out into the balmy goodness of Missouri weather. It is only after this process of liberation that you truly can soak in and realize: it's spring.
