Holy crap, there are people here!

Now that temperatures are off-the-charts hot, it actually seems like 8,000 people might go here! I didn’t see more than 4 people on a walk from my dorm to Evanston all of Winter Quarter. Now, suddenly, everyone is out in full force. The warm weather whimsy is palpable. The sunbathing? The beach runs? People walking around in bathing suits? Sunglasses? This is ridiculous! I practically had to elbow my way to CVS to buy some shampoo, there were so many people wandering around Evanston. And you can recognize friends from further away — no more “why is that large bundle of clothes waving at me?” or hiding in the anonymity of head to toe black. I’ve seen more skin in the last two days than all year. Still, let’s not get carried away. No need to pull a Britney, and please, that swooshy mini skirt is way cuter when I don’t see it trying to ride a bike.

I feel so guilty staying inside, now, even if the wind is too gusty to do homework outside, and as nice as the grass is, there are no outlets to plug in my laptop there. It’s such a shame to be studying inside while the trees are starting to bud outside my window, and the sunlight shines through the windows to both distract me and superheat my room. But when I have to sit on the train for an hours this weekend trying to hunt down people to interview, at least I’ll come back with all my toes, which is more than I can say for my winter reporting adventures.

Extra bonus: that sunscreen I bought during orientation week that I immediately realized I would never need and stuck in a drawer has suddenly become useful. The downside? It’s become useful because I’m going to get sunburned.