Winter can get cold and lonely, right? It’s not exactly fun to meet up at the bars in 20-degree weather, or take a hike in the freezing rain. And not being outside a lot, coupled with it being dark all the time, can give even the cheeriest of people a bit of the sads. It might even be a bit harder if this is your first time living in off-campus housing and the first Winter Break you’re not going back to your parents’ place. No worries! It’s not like Athens dies in the winter; it just goes into a bit of hibernation. And it’s a pretty nice place to wait out the cold in.
Here are our 6 best tips for making it through that whole part between November and March when everything just kind of sucks:
1. Never leave for classes in the morning without checking your texts, emails and Blackboard; when the weather gets bad, professors don’t want to come in either. There’s nothing worse than bundling up and braving the cold only to find you didn’t have to in the first place. And who doesn’t love a good snow day?
2. This is the season you’re really going to appreciate living close to campus and uptown. Plan your paths to class to be as efficient as possible. And maybe stop at Court Street Coffee on the way to get a drink to warm up your hands while you walk.
3. Be prepared with layers. This isn’t just about how cold it is outside; it’s about the fact that every building on campus is a different temperature in the winter, and none of them are normalized in any way. You’ll be baking in Bentley and shivering in Ellis. Quirks of learning in a bunch of century-old buildings, I guess.
4. Eat more! Not only is it just comforting to snack when you’re bummed out or bored, but eating throughout the day is one of the best ways for your body’s ambient temperature to stay warmer.
5. Don’t take the sun for granted. Chilly day but the sky’s totally clear? Make yourself go outside; you definitely need that vitamin D.
6. Don’t stop being social. Whether you meet the girls at Starbucks twice a week for those basic-but-delicious peppermint coffee creations or hit up Tony’s for some hot totties, if you can venture the cold for just a block or two from your apartment to uptown, you can keep your social life even in the dead of February.
Don’t worry; it’s Ohio. The winters are long, but they also never decide what they’re doing, so you can count on an unseasonably warm and sunny day every so often. And when spring comes around, it’s that much better.