Umbrellas Up, Wildcats!

Isabel Choi Staff Writer

We all know those days when the air smells of fresh grass and earth. The pitter-patter of the rain can be heard on rooftops and the view from the window becomes a myriad of colors: green, yellow, brown and gray.

The sky looks like stained newspaper, and puddles form within the indents of the soil.

As spring approaches, it seems these rainy days will become more common. Each morning when I wake up to the sound of my “Night Owl” alarm and the dripping of rain against the concrete, I know that it is going to be a gray day.

Freshman Cindy Yang appears to share a similar opinion.

“On rainy days I either go to CEER, or rot in my dorm,” Yang said.“I like to stay in my dorm all day,” another anonymous student said.

From these statements, it is clear that the rain dampens any motivation to venture outside, and, unsurprisingly, I feel the same rainy day blues as my classmates.

While rainy days are my excuse to order DoorDash and study in my dorm, which mostly involves just “resting my eyes” in my bed, not all Villanovans do the same, and thus, rainy days look different for everyone.

Some students use rainy days for stress relief while others romanticize the gray weather in some sort of way.

“I want to dance in the rain of course, but I don’t want to shower after so I don’t actually dance,” freshman Joe Ahn admits, laughing.

In terms of the shoes or any rain gear that students regularly wear or use, it appears that umbrellas and sneakers are the most common, although Ahn revealed that he occasionally chooses to wear Crocs without socks because “[his] socks won’t get wet that way.”

“Flip flops and sandals are perfect for maximum efficiency because wet socks suck,” Freshman Antonio Fiorentino Wong said.

On the same note, Yang laments her decision to wear her black Converse shoes. Soggy socks are clearly an issue for a number of students on rainy days and prevents them from walking outside.

For Villanova students, there are notable places on campus where rain collects the most, serving as perfect places to ruin Ugg slippers.

Among the most recognized is the large puddle that forms outside the bookstore. This comes as no surprise, but, each time it rains, students, with their bulky backpacks, dark jackets and umbrellas, all pack to one side of the path in front of the bookstore.

States do not exist in Europe. No one cares where you are from. People just want you to respect them and their culture. I studied abroad in Madrid last semester which was so rich in a culture different from anything I had ever experienced.

Shops and restaurants close in the middle of the day for “siesta,” people do not eat dinner until 10pm, and bars and clubs are open until the early hours of the morning.

Living in Madrid, if anything, showed me that Spanish people truly take advantage of the 24 hours given to us each day.

Additionally, a typical college student in Madrid does not live in a dorm or apartment on their university’s campus. In fact, no one does. Students commute from all around the city each day, some traveling as long as 90 minutes to get to campus. I had a 45-minute commute to my campus each day. This was a huge change for me, given that almost any building on Villanova’s campus can be reached in about a 10-minute walk.

However, doing this commute every day held me accountable. I had to be awake and headed to the train station an hour before my first class if I wanted to make it on time.

Though I am glad I no longer have to make this commute, I am grateful for it, because it introduced me to new responsibilities I never had to worry about before.

Going abroad was the most magical experience ever. I loved every second of it and I think anyone else would too. Go see what this beautiful world has to offer.

Inevitably, students avoid this giant puddle to safely get to where they need to without getting sopping wet.

“I stepped in the puddle a couple of times, which ruined my shoes,” Yang said. “Some students also walk very slowly so it’s annoying that I have to wait for a whole crowd of slow walkers to get past the bookstore.”

Yang is not alone in her experience with this Puddle of Doom. Each time I mention the subject, there are always strong responses. Perhaps the puddle is a result of Villanova’s faulty storm drain system or the fact that impervious surfaces do not drain well on rainy days, allowing water to amass. Either way, something must be done to combat this obvious tripping and soaking hazard.

Rainy days on campus, overall, are certainly not my favorite. When the sky looks angry, I take it as my sign to hibernate for the day. While I would love to be one of those people who idealize gray weather, once class ends, I go straight back to my dorm for the rest of the day and look out the window in low spirits. Until the rain subsides, everything else can wait until tomorrow.

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