Last week another snowstorm blew through my university, closing us down Tuesday afternoon through Thursday morning. When you think of snow days in college, you may think of the crazy parties from Hollywood blockbusters, or the students who immediately post that they’ll be playing video games all day because no class. While I’m sure that this is the experience for some people, as a college student in 2018 the odds that you’ll be able to party your day away with no responsibility or assignments are slimmer than you’d think. So what is a college snow day really like?
Generally once the closing is announced the campus starts to look deserted. With all classes after 2 pm canceled on Tuesday, the common areas and study rooms in the residence halls quickly filled. Something you may not realize is that when campuses shut down, that can mean the library too. The dining halls switch to special schedules, and most convenience spots shut down. Our shuttles stop running two hours after campus actually closes, so walking becomes the only option. Obviously all campuses are different, but this is how mine operates. All day Tuesday it was essentially hailing, so there was ice everywhere. There were brief periods of snow or rain, but nothing that lasted very long.
Even though classes were canceled, professors could still hold class online if they wanted to. Luckily my professors chose not to do this, and I had more time to study. However, they did give additional assignments to make up for the missed instruction.
As the weather grew more intense my friends and I decided to grab dinner as soon as it opened. Until then, we studied. We had no word on classes for Wednesday, and everyone had quizzes or exams scheduled. Like most other students I saw, we hunkered down and got our work done. Including our new assignments for missing class.
Late Tuesday night with my work completed and no word on Wednesday, I tried to go to bed early. After all, no one wants to take a 9:00 am calculus quiz while half asleep! Thankfully, there was a 5:00 am announcement Wednesday morning that all classes were canceled, and I let myself sleep in for a little bit. In an effort not to let our bodies get too off schedule, I met my friends for breakfast at 9:15 am. With snow everywhere and coming down hard, we trekked to the dining hall with our books.
Again, with canceled classes came more assignments. To stay on top of things and be prepared for Thursday and Friday’s classes, after breakfast we grabbed more food to go and headed to an empty building to get some work done. A couple of hours in, our friends who usually have later classes came and joined us. We decided to look outside to find the snow coming down even harder, and a solid five inches of snow-covered the previous days layer of ice. Around 1:00 pm I headed back to my room, having finished my assignments for the day.
Walking back the snow was much deeper than anticipated, and there were kids skiing across campus with their backpacks on, off to the labs and classrooms to get their work done. I wish I had pictures. In typical college fashion there were handfuls of students with plastic container lids attempting to sled down the hills. Personally, seeing the excitement from kids who haven’t seen true blizzards before is my favorite.
Back in my room, I was able to do a bit of cleaning I had been putting off. The thing about snow days in college is that there’s always more to do. There are more assignments and more quizzes to study for. There’s more housekeeping to take care of. This time off was more like catch up time, presenting an opportunity to tackle my endless to do list. And I did! After having spent all of Tuesday and Wednesday morning on work, I was able to complete everything (a great feeling).
With all current assignments complete, I decided to take on some of the more minor tasks I had been putting off. But this post is not to say I didn’t let myself have any fun! When the only thing left on my to do list was laundry (which I was not about to attempt, as the laundry room was packed from everyone else trying to catch up on their housekeeping too), I pulled out my laptop, made some popcorn, and watched Wonder Woman. The rest of my day was spent relaxing, and catching up on the shows I haven’t been able to watch while my to do list has been a mile long.
It was nice knowing that I had done everything I needed to, and to have a bit of that classic snow day experience. That was a great part of my snow day, but it wasn’t all of it. That’s the thing to remember.
Sometime Wednesday evening my school announced that campus wouldn’t be opening back up until after 10:00 am on Thursday. Shortly after I was sent yet another assignment to do for my canceled class. But that’s just how my snow days work in college. The work doesn’t stop just because classes do, and while most of my time was spent staying on top of it, I still got the opportunity to enjoy my day.
Thursday morning I got up as usual, did my “class is canceled” assignment, and went about my normal routine as campus woke back up from its brief snowy sleep.
I will have to make a note though that through this whole experience I don’t think anyone enjoyed their day as much as my service dog. She is enamored with the snow!
And that was my college snow day. It may seem boring to you. It may seem shocking. But that’s it. By Friday afternoon I was back to having a mile long to do list. It’s just how college works! If you want to see more of my day-to-day life, follow me on Instagram here!
