Fall semester superiority
By Abbey Weitzenkamp

When you think of St. Olaf, don’t tell me you don’t think of fall fun along with it: colorful leaves, pumpkin muffins from the Cage, Halloweekend — it’s the best time of year. Spring semester can be nice, but in Minnesota, spring lasts two weeks at best, so it’s mostly winter. It’s not the fun holiday type of winter, either; it’s February sludge and seasonal depression through and through.

One of the major reasons fall semester is inherently superior to spring is a phenomenon I call the “back-to-school honeymoon” period. The honeymoon period is a state of increased gratitude that usually lasts from September to mid-October. You’ve felt this in some way: you get back to campus and your friends are actually the best and you missed them so much over the summer, your dorm looks shiny and beautiful after three months of your family breathing down your neck at home, you have actual free time, and your classes probably won’t get much harder as the semester goes on.

Also: trees. I’m convinced that the trees planted on campus are chosen specifically for their fall colors — that, or someone is employed by the College to color the leaves with orange and yellow highlighters in the dead of night. They are almost annoyingly gorgeous, I can’t walk out my door in October without reveling in cozy whimsy and the joy of being alive.

We can’t compare fall and spring semester without also comparing the major college binge drinking holidays that happen in each. No hate to St. Patrick’s Day, but Halloween is better. Again, I love a borg as much as the next girl — that’s a lie, I don’t think I’ve actually done one — but costumes make every bad decision way more fun, and for better or for worse, I always come back from Halloweekend with some stories.

Spring, for me, is always more stressful. I have my annual housing crash-out and I freak out about what to do over the summer because I was having too much fun in the fall to plan ahead — but not this year, though. It’s senior year baby, that’s a whole different kind of panic.

When I’m old and gray and I look back at my years on the Hill, I will think of hammocking under a canopy of sunset colors. I will yearn with nostalgia for crunchy leaves under my feet, and the feeling of everything being ahead of me.

Spring semester: The time to be alive
By Kathryn Looney

There’s no denying it: fall on campus is gorgeous. When the morning sun hits the multi-colored leaves on the Quad, I feel like I am walking in a living mosaic. You get to see friends again after a summer, and you’re — hopefully — excited for classes.

But, after two years on the Hill, I still think spring semester is superior. Fall semester takes some time getting used to. You have to adjust to the routine of classes, living in a dorm, and not having as much free time. Your schedule gets full fast. Sure, you might be excited about the people you’re seeing and classes you’re taking, but most likely after a summer of internships and traveling, it takes a minute to get used to sitting down in the library and studying for a stats exam, or doing close reading for an American literature essay. After three weeks, when you have two essays on the horizon, you’ve rotated from pasta to Near and Far to Home and Hearth enough times that nothing looks good anymore, and the first-years have found your study spot, school can lose its romantic edge. And then the sun goes down earlier and earlier in the evening, until one night, after working on the layout for your section of the school newspaper which you started at 3 p.m., you emerge from the bowels of Rolvaag to find that the campus is pitch-black — at 4:47 p.m. True story!

Now, let’s look at the spring semester. You haven’t had a three-month break from school, so your body and mind are prepped to get back into the groove of classes. And now, it’s the final push — only 15 weeks until a well-deserved, real break, not just three weeks. In my opinion, most of the good classes are also offered in the spring — like Journalistic Writing and Podcasting History — and they’re no longer basic introductory classes. Spring allows you to hone in on what you like.

And then there’s nature. Honestly, if we didn’t have the Natural Lands I probably wouldn’t love spring semester as much as I do. But seriously, those acres are such a gift. Not only are we situated on a hill, the perfect place to watch the sunsets with some friends as you slough off the chill of January and February, the Natural Lands explode with color after so many brown and gray days. Personally, I love taking the path around the baseball fields; I’ve always greeted a deer in the evening, and in early May there’s a heavenly crabapple tree that bursts with petals and perfume. None of those stinky ginkgo trees! Not only is this regrowth pleasing to the eyes, but it’s invigorating, and gives me the extra energy I need to finish up another lovely year of classes and socializing.