Pre-Spring Break, you could just about hear the level of crazy steadily rising at Kenyon. Between taking midterms, battling the Kenyon krud, and dealing with the return of twenty degree weather, it is no wonder that people started to go a little nuts. Thankfully, March break arrived just in time, and with that marked the halfway point of spring semester and the beginning of one of the best parts of the school year. Here are a few reasons why we should all be so excited to come back from break:
1. Flowers, flowers, everywhere
From the very early days of spring, we start getting beautiful flowers. Daffodils will start to pop up everywhere pretty early on, then tulips and crocuses and so many other colorful flowers will follow in their wake. Walking to class at nine in the morning is exponentially better with the smell and sight of springtime all around!
2. Shock Your Mom
A classic Kenyon tradition, Shock Your Mom occurs after the swim team finishes their season, usually sometime in late March or early April. We get to spend the first couple weeks back brainstorming creative costumes and scouring Goodwill for cheap materials, and then we get to half love/half hate the party itself, witnessing all of our peers embarrass themselves…and likely embarrassing ourselves also.
3. Being outside!
Ever so slowly, warm weather is coming. Throughout the seven weeks after March break, everyone will be spending more and more time outside (weather permitting, of course.) Reading your bio textbook under the sun on Ransom Lawn (infinitely more enjoyable), eating lunch on the back patio of Peirce, and taking nature walks with friends along the Kokosing Gap Trail are all things we can look forward to.
4. Longer days
It will soon be 7:00 p.m. and actually feel like 7:00 p.m. No more thinking that it’s time for bed right when dinner ends because it’s pitch black!
5. Invasion of the prospies
When we get back to Kenyon, high school seniors start hearing back from colleges. This leads to last-minute college visits and the two, huge accepted students weekends on campus. Prospies will be everywhere – crowding sidewalks, in your classes, and taking your favorite table in the Great Hall. This may sound unappealing or daunting, but with the aim of impressing these prospective students, Peirce generally has unusually good food during the spring months.
6. The return of cute clothes
Soon the days of sweaters, scarves, and marshmallow coats will be over! In just a few weeks, we’ll be able to pull out our spring wardrobes of sundresses and flip-flops. This may also merit a daytrip to Easton for dinner and shopping! Â
7. Summer Sendoff
Summer Sendoff (N.): a day of skipping class, drinking while lounging on South Quad, eating a sub-par Peirce picnic, and going to a Social Board-sponsored concert on Ransom Lawn. This year, we have Sleigh Bells and Brother Ali to entertain us (and possibly hang out with at the VI afterward?) This event also spans into the next day, unofficial Saturday Sendoff. Some combination of sleeping until noon, going to Southside for brunch, hula hooping, drinking on South Quad, sunbathing, wearing too little clothing, and watching The Sandlot, Dirty Dancing, or Jaws required.
So when your time on vacation or at home comes to a close, find some happiness in the knowledge that Kenyon’s best time of the year awaits!
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Image Credit: Wonders List, Kenyon Blogs