Happy spring, everybody! This past Sunday marked the official first day of spring, which means that days are getting longer, the sun is getting shinier, and somehow final exams are just over a month away. Gone are the cold, bleak winter months (well, the slightly less sunny and occasionally-below-room-temperature months), and finally the Sunshine State gets do do what it does best. At UCF, we Golden Knights have our own special ways of welcoming springtime. Just by walking through campus, it’s easy to tell that it is now springtime at UCF:
Students gear up for monsoon season.
Your umbrella becomes an irreplaceable backpack object again. The dry winter months are fading away, and you must once again be on guard for those flash thunderstorms that always conveniently strike during the 15 minutes between classes.
Baby, it’s cold inside.
When Floridians turn the air conditioning on, it is ON. Now that it’s springtime, students have to decide between dressing for the 85 degree walk to class or for the 55 degree classroom. As we’ve all learned, sometimes it’s better to sweat for 10 minutes than freeze for 50. Or better yet, just bring a whole change of clothes.
The Leisure Pool is open!
Though it’s technically been open since mid-February, early spring offers just enough sunshine and heat for a magnificent pool lounging experience, but not so much that you sweat off all your sunscreen in five minutes. That means UCF students love to squeeze an hour of pool time in on a lazy afternoon, after a tough exam, or right before (better yet, instead of) heading to the gym.
Perspiration Nation.
Remember the good old days (so, like, mid-February) when you could walk home from class and not immediately feel like you needed to hop in the shower? Those days are fading fast, and the days of sweaty backpack straps and portable face wipes are here to stay for another eight months.
Iced-coffee season.
Shoutout to Millican Hall and the school administrators, but we all know the machinations of UCF are kept running by the real MVPs – Java City, Starbucks, Joffrey’s, Einstein Bros, and the rest of our campus’s loyal caffeine providers. And now that temperatures are rising, students are making the seasonal shift from hot to iced coffee. Drinking coffee through a straw is so much more fun, anyway.
Politics! Politics everywhere!
As the presidential election heats up and Florida voters have cast their primary ballots, political clubs on campus are more active than ever, encouraging students to “Feel the Bern” or “Make America Great Again.” The Free Speech Lawn and Student Union Patio bustle with loud and proud campaigning, and campaign signs have been sprouting up everywhere for the SGA elections later this month.
Even more tour groups than usual.
Throwback to spring of my senior year of high school, when the life decisions I had been putting off for 10 months started to loom terrifying close. Springtime is the season of college decisions, and it seems that UCF has even more prospective Knights on campus than usual for tours. Both the students and parents in these groups definitely have a tangible sense of urgency, as the reality of college starts to set in, and they try to evaluate whether or not UCF could be a good home for the next four years (To any prospective students reading this article, here’s a tip from someone once in your shoes – the answer is YES).
Spring scheduling.
Time to look up the name of your advisor and try to get your life together in time for next semester! Registration for summer, fall, and spring are starting to open up, and the mad dash to get off the waitlist and avoid 7:30 a.m. classes begins. May the odds be ever in your favor.
Thumbnail Image: Author’s Own