Now that spring is in the air, Northwestern students are retrieving flip-flops and shorts from their closets and dragging themselves out of the library — but not without their books, of course.
Although it hasn’t been too long since the campus was covered in snow, temperatures reached more than 60 degrees on Friday and Saturday. Students crowded dorm lawns, fraternity and sorority quads, the Lakefill and the beaches. Yet with midterms quickly approaching, few students could enjoy the weather without the company of their books. At the end of the day, students had mixed verdicts on the productivity of time spent outdoors.
Emily Fitter, a Communication sophomore, and Jen Sommer, an Education sophomore, spent Friday afternoon “studying” at a table outside of Lisa’s Caf�. Just steps away, fraternities were blasting music and students were playing Frisbee on the lawns. After 15 minutes outside, Fitter had read only one paragraph of her mass media book.
“I get really distracted by people and the music and everyone’s conversations,” she said.
She didn’t expect her afternoon to be very productive, but Fitter said she hoped “to at least get some work done and even get a nice tan.”
Sommer, sitting at the same table, had barely even opened her social policy book.
“I opened it and looked at it and then my friend came,” she said jokingly.
Sommer’s hopes for reading were quickly squashed when she began throwing around her friend’s Frisbee.
However, Maggie Emmott, a Weinberg freshman, had no problem studying on Deering Field. Despite the cricket game behind her and two sleeping friends beside her, Emmott had no trouble getting her chemistry reading done.
“I actually get less distracted outside than inside because of TV and stuff,” she said. “I like the ambient noises.”
Sohil Shah and Laura Lukehart, both Weinberg sophomores, were not as successful. The two spread out blankets on the lakefill and surrounded themselves with candy and soda. After an hour, Shah still had not opened his political science book.
“We actually came here to read, but when I get here, I feel like relaxing,” he said. “This is much better than studying, so I don’t care that I don’t get anything done.”
Lukehart, with a statistics midterm two days away, had not even taken her book out of her bag.
“I’ll study in a few minutes once we run out of things to talk about and I’ll be forced to read,” she said. “It’s a gorgeous day, and I can always study tonight or tomorrow. Right now I’ll just get some sun.”
Reach Jenn Carmen at [email protected].