Winter Days

Winter Days Now that winter is approaching and snow is officially falling, students need to take a different approach to getting to classes and final exams at Illinois. With the cold and harsh weather, one needs to find different ways to dress and alternate ways to reach the buildings necessary during the day. Dressing semi-light, taking buses and cars, and planning trips ahead of time are  the best ways students can handle winter weather on campus. Courtesy: sheerwx.blogspot.com First, when dealing with cold and snowy weather in Campaign-Urbana, I encourage students to work out a method of automotive transportation. The campus has a generous busing department that  provides stops to nearly all the corners of the university. The buses are well heated and allow you to get from point A to B in the frigid weather with very little outdoor trekking. Also, if you are fortunate to have a car on campus, parking is readily available as long as you know where to park ahead of time. With these resources, a student has choices in getting around during the coldest times of the year. Courtesy: web.mta.info In the cold weather, one also needs to dress for the occasion. Here, the idea is to dress in a way that is against normal logic. I recommend the light layering of clothing for the colder seasons on campus because it allows for easy movement, a lack of sweating (which makes you cold later), and simply less to carry around. Wearing lighter clothing such as a windbreaker over a sweater will allow you to stay warm without paying for it later. Courtesy: blog.cdc.com Finally, in the arctic-like weather at  the end of the semester, a student at Illinois should really have his or her  daily route planned. This is not just so one can get to classes on time, but so that one has a trip criterion that  favors main streets that  are plowed or the shortest trip when less outdoor time is key to a good day. In other words, the shorter and cleaner the trip, the better. And so, as a transfer student I have found a well-dressed and well-planned trip in a vehicle is the best way to commute across the Illinois campus in the cold months. Jacob Class of 2018 I am a transfer student studying Engineering Physics in the College of Engineering. I started with the Illinois Engineering Pathways program through the College of DuPage. I am from Naperville, Illinois.