You look outside. It’s gray. It’s wet. Your alarm clock pales in comparison to the leaf blower guy outside your window every Monday at 7:30 a.m. Every girl in a five-mile radius is clad in knee-high rain boots, yoga pants and a North Face jacket with her hair in a bun. It must be autumn.
My favorite time of year is one of vibrant colors and refreshing cool dampness. It’s a season that brings anticipation, adventure and a revamping of college life.
But I also hate it.
Autumn is one of those seasons that seem really cool and exciting in theory, but in actuality is watered down (quite literally) by the spontaneous downpours and lingering cloud coverage.
“But the rain’s not so bad, I kind of like it!”
That’s because it’s only November. This is just the tip of the iceberg. Let me know after Valentine’s Day how excited you still are to jump around in puddles and frolic in the blissful afternoon showers. I didn’t believe in the rumored “nine months of darkness” when I first moved here either, but it turns out that it really is no joke.
“But…football!”
Valid point. Fall term signals the return of Duck football. There’s nothing I love more during the first 10 weeks of school than going to the game with friends. The thrill, the excitement and the collective energy, it’s a true hallmark of the college experience.
That is if you get tickets. As it turns out, having 10 members of your extended family across the country logged in and ready to strike when the clock strikes 8 p.m., still isn’t enough. Did anyone else notice the lack of an email for Stanford distribution?
Well played, goducks.com. Fall just wouldn’t be complete without the additional raincloud of missing out on tickets.
And the leaves. How could I forget about the leaves? Everywhere. The spectrum of blue, orange, yellow and green that makes up Eugene in autumn is a sight to be seen.
However, the sight of beautiful foliage comes with a price, not the least of which is a willful sacrifice of any floor you touch upon stepping in from the great outdoors.
Every single time someone walks into your apartment they undoubtedly bring a lovely offering of every color tree that they passed on their way over. Their shoes touch the carpet and immediately turn it into a surface akin to the forest floor. Not to worry though, it’s not like I wanted my security deposit back anyway.
Fall is a time where perpetual wetness plagues the unprepared and tests their willpower and commitment to the things they love. Everyone has had that moment when they question just how badly they want to see their friend who lives on the opposite side of campus while it’s pouring rain eternally. There’s no greater indicator of a true friend than someone who will walk from 12th Avenue and High Street to 22nd Avenue and Emerald Street just to see you on a Friday night.
Alas, there is a flipside to the dark days of autumn. It’s not all a cloud-ridden shrouds of unhappiness. We joke about the weather during the fall, but we only do so to avoid the inevitable realization of what winter term will bring.
By the time January rolls around, people have grown accustomed to the gloominess and accepted the notion that they still won’t see the sun for another five months.
Relatively speaking, we should all be slaphappy about fall and our one allotted sunny day per week, because it’ll be gone sooner than we can say, “Is that blue sky?” Some day in the near future, we’ll long for this time, probably once we’re nearly unable to discern the days of the week, and much less what time of the day it is.
So, if nothing else, take comfort in knowing that fall is, at the very least, still better than winter. I don’t know many people who get ecstatic at the idea of it getting dark at 4:00 in the afternoon.
At the end of the day, we may complain, rant and bond over everything that autumn provides us with (for better or for worse), but there will always be something about it that keeps us coming back. Perhaps it’s the temperamental mode of the weather that aligns with the unpredictable nature of college students. Whatever the case, it’s a true love/hate relationship. Don’t forget your rain jacket.
Follow Grant Susman on Twitter @ImGrantSusman