Dear reader,
This is the last hurrah. Our last winter term at St. Paul’s has come to an end. Dare we say it: we are feeling a little sentimental.
Despite constant complaining, a little piece of our heart will miss the weeks when the sun seemed to disappear and we had to embark on cold and treacherous walks to the Upper from the academic quad. There is truly nothing quite like a New Hampshire winter, and in some way it’s what bonds our community together. Today we would like to use this space to reflect on winter’s memories.
The Style: temperatures that go into the negatives is a bleak part of the winter, but the cold allows us to embrace winter style and bundle up. In some ways, the style on campus takes off when everyone pulls out their fun attire: bomber jackets, tall boots, scarves, and fur trapper hats. We could never pull off knee-high Moon Boots in another environment.
Winter Nature Walks: nothing compares to walking through the SPS forest after a BOMBCYCLONE. It’s hard to remember the various trails are actually part of campus when you spend the day getting lost under the snow-covered trees, speaker in hand and a feeling of rising panic as the sun sets. We will always look back at the SPS woods as a way to escape reality during the winter. And no matter where we go next, they will always be part of what made St. Paul’s feel like home.
Friedman + Library: These two community spaces are the busiest during the winter due to the weather. In a way, the cold forces us to be social as there are only many places to socialize. While we often spend time wishing we could be out tanning and playing spike ball on Chapel lawn, places like Friedman and the Library are where everyone comes together. The most classic example of this is the recent Super Bowl Sunday, when our entire school was together into a packed Raffini, excited both for the football and for the possibility of a day off.
Creativity: An SPS winter forces us to get creative in ways we never are during the fall or spring. With only so much to do, it’s imperative to keep busy. It’s why we have found ourselves on a Saturday night trying out a new restaurant in town, doing arts and crafts in the common room and playing cards: activities we would never do if we could just frolic outside.
This all goes to say that part of being an SPS student means going through an SPS winter. This collective winter experience is something that we may never experience again and certainly will never forget. At the end of the day, St. Paul’s winter is perfectly encapsulated in a single moment: going to pick up your DoorDash order with three jackets on, teeth chattering, questioning your life decisions, when you see someone else waiting under the light outside Lindsay and think: at least we’re all in this together.