As winter term brings cold weather, shorter days, and less activity, some students get the “winter term blues.” It is easier to get homesick, physically sick, or just bored during the winter months.
The 10-minute walk between classes can be irritating with snow on the ground, especially if it necessitates a cross-campus trek. Winter weather varies, and picking out an outfit becomes complicated when it’s cold one day and warm the next. “I always check the weather in the morning to dress accordingly—a big puffer coat, hat, gloves, two layers of bottoms, and UGGs,” said Ayaka Okawa ’10. Wearing the wrong clothes can sometimes leave students freezing or sweating, depending on the temperature that day.
Winter Brings Fewer Activites
The cold weather also limits activity. Many students find walking off campus out of the question. “I hang around in my dorm room with my friends because there is nothing else to do and it is too cold to walk to Half Moon,” Okawa continued. Even walking across campus becomes a challenge. Before leaving for winter break in December, Michelle Nam ’10 exerted herself trying to pull a heavy suitcase across the snowy campus. “The cab to the airport was coming to Nichols, and I live in a faculty house near the SAC,” Nam explained.
Despite the cold weather, some students seek refuge at home or do make the trek off campus. Some freshmen yearn for somewhere that is not ‘school.’ Tatum Travers ’11 said she makes frequent trips to town with her friends. “I try to get out to town, and I go to the movies. I miss my family more after having a good time with them over winter break.”
Homesickness and cold are not the only factors that makes winter term challenging to endure. Some students feel that their workload has increased since the beginning of the term. Chau Hoang ’11 is one such person. “I would like to get off campus during weekends, but then I realize that I have a lot of work to do. There is definitely more work this term than fall term, and things get more difficult,” she said. Coming from Vietnam, Hoang does not have the chance to go home every vacation. Despite this, she said she is anxious for the March Break.
Some Students Enjoy the Cold
Although some students count down the days until March Break, others are less excited. For Helen Guo ’11, who lives in Beijing, distance makes the time feel insufficient: “Home is so far away, and we only get three weeks of break.”
For some Choaties, however, this term is no different from fall or spring. Aeri Kwon ’08 said she has enjoyed winter term during four years at Choate. “You learn to enjoy the weather, snow, and everything else that the winter at Choate has to offer. I personally think that winter is the best term out of al1,” she said.
For Hoang, this year was her first time seeing snow. “My first experience of snow was so nice. The whole campus was covered with snow, and I was surprised because I was coming out of a practice room in the PMAC,” she explained. Winter can be both miserable and a delight. Schoolwork, snow, and sickness may bog some students down, but March Break provides a not too distant reprieve.
