The seasonal gloom surrounding winter quarter hits students in full force
Winter Quarter tends to be an energy deficient quarter for students, coming one full quarter after the past summer and another full quarter away from the upcoming summer. Upon returning to Davis in January, students often find themselves less excited to socialize or participate in events in the area. Many factors play into this generalized apathy, as students note that their hesitancy to go out can be due to a multitude of reasons.
Brian Jahja, a third-year food science major, blames his hesitancy to go out to on the dreary weather that looms over campus throughout the quarter, noting that the general gloom of overcast weather can be the cause of students feeling less sociable.
“I think the atmosphere in Davis becomes extremely depressing during winter quarter since it rains nonstop on top of it being really cold,” Jahja said. “People are less willing to go out, and the whole vibe of the campus body is very antisocial since everyone just wants to bundle up indoors with a warm blanket. There’s also a lack of activities during the quarter, so it ends up being pretty dead socially for those few months.”
Scott Sanchez, a fourth year design major, agreed that the gloomy vibes of Winter Quarter tend to be mostly due to the gloom in the weather itself. He added that the bad weather can bring additional barriers that make socializing and enjoying Davis more difficult physically.
“Winter Quarter is definitely my least favorite quarter, just in terms of the weather and trying to get around to classes or places in general,” Sanchez said. “I feel like I have to get up earlier in Winter Quarter too. I like to maximize my sleep time as much as possible, but preparing for the rain means that I have to get up at least an hour earlier to get ready, and even then I’m sometimes late. I also haven’t heard of many cool events going on in Winter Quarter, probably because of the bad weather and the rain itself. It’s hard to find things to do for fun during Winter Quarter; you can only do so much in the city of Davis and most people have busy schedules too so it can be hard to plan around that.”
Zoe Marin, a fourth-year design major, noted how the bad weather has a domino effect on other aspects of Davis that further deteriorates the overall quality of the quarter.
“During Winter Quarter, I really dislike having to take the buses, but I have to because when it rains it means I can’t really bike,” Marin said. “I live in North Davis and when it comes to living there, the buses get really full because so many people live there. Because of that, the buses also get really musky and gross. Today, I was sitting in the corner of the bus and I felt like I was going to suffocate. I’ve actually seen people pass out on the bus during Winter Quarter because of how stuffy it gets.”
Most students agree that Davis’ bad winter weather is the main contributor to the dampened mood throughout the quarter, and while there may be a deficiency of scheduled events planned for the quarter, students should still attempt to find ways to enjoy themselves.
Written by: Alyssa Hada – features@theaggie.org
