Winter quarter doldrums

By Jane Muhlstein

Three weeks into winter break, I was starting to feel like I would never have to go back to school. I had reached that point where watching TV on a couch at my mom's house seemed like a perfectly normal way to spend an afternoon. The point where there seemed nothing wrong with meeting up with friends to shop four afternoons a week. The point where Seattle had begun to reclaim its title of home.

I would have to get back to school eventually, of course, which brings us up-to-date. So now we have returned to campus, armed with stories from break and new class schedules, ready to embark upon the desolate wasteland that is winter quarter.

While our counterparts at semester schools have already made the leap forward into spring, we are stuck with 10 more weeks of winter. We must endure this cold, dank, uninspiring transitional quarter before we can reach the light at the end of the tunnel.

Fall is a flurry of excitement as students flock to Santa Clara from many corners of the world, some for the first time, others eager to rejoin their friends and pick back up where they left off in June. The school routine is new and fresh, with the exception of those unlucky summer schoolers. As experienced by first-graders everywhere, there is an excitement to the back-to-school ritual.

Spring quarter presents us all with different kinds of excitement. As the mercury starts to rise, students appear lounging across the lawn in the Mission Gardens and substantial clothing becomes scarce. With spring break tans and summer plans, people across campus emit a glow that can only come from the knowledge that summer is near.

Stuck somewhere in between is this agonizing period known as winter. Sure, it still counts as much as our other quarters, but it really just feels like something we have to plod through and survive.

This is the quarter in which, only a week and a half into the term, we are already prepping for a big holiday weekend. Remember to store up for the winter as all important campus hubs (Benson and Malley) keep erratic hours during the three-day exoduses from Santa Clara.

It is time once again for nights shivering through the neighborhood around campus before realizing there isn't a single party. This is the quarter in which the library actually stands a chance of being inhabited. Study hard, only eight more weeks of winter.

* Contact Jane Muhlstein at (408) 554-4546 or at jmuhlstein@scu.edu.