Summer should contain
vitamin D
Kristin Buchanan
Summer 2001 is about to come to an end,
which is a bit of a shock because I wasn't aware that it had even started.
It seems as if it never really came. Somebody had to know about
it. I'm sure that somewhere out there,
carefree college students are leisurely tanning on the beach, becoming
one with nature.
Somewhere, college students are sleeping
the day away, while others squander away obscene amounts of money at the
mall, drunk with materialism. Those students know what
summer is all about.
Summer is supposed to be all about relaxing
and taking time to stop and smell the roses. I guess I didn't get the memo.
From the look of things, I'm not the only one.
Every summer, thousands of UH students
spend the better part of their "vacation" cooped up in the library, studying
for classes they never wanted to take in the first place. Summer
school seems like the most opportune time
to get those classes out of the way, but I'm beginning to wonder if it's
really worth it.
Being stuck inside all day and not seeing
much of the summer sun takes its toll. Personally, I almost forgot the
sun existed. The only tan I've been able to get this summer has been
from driving around in the lovely Houston
traffic.
If the absence of easy livin' isn't enough,
the climate has been pretty contrary to expectations. The summer of 2001
continues to give mixed signals, confusing Houstonians with its
highly uncharacteristic weather.
In June, Tropical Storm Allison gave the
impression that we were stuck in a perpetual spring season. As a tradition,
Houston is supposed to be unbearably hot and unmercifully
humid in the summer. Admittedly, it has
been warm. But we haven't seen the sizzling scorchers of previous years.
If the storm didn't make the season weird
enough, summer school became even more concentrated after the storm hit.
Many students who managed to survive Allison found
themselves frantically treading water
and gasping for air in the flood of schoolwork, intensified by UH's shutdown.
I know some unfortunate souls are taking
classes all summer. Some have been doing that for years. And one day, when
we all get out into the real world, those of us who aren't
going into teaching will have to say goodbye
to the lazy days of summer.
With summers about to become extinct in
our lives, shouldn't we strive to make the most of them now? Look around
and see the vitamin D-deficient students roaming the campus
like zombies. Don't let that happen to
you. Students, now is the time to get out, to go do something crazy.
Explore the vast world outside the Houston
city limits. Go to Galveston, and reacquaint yourself with the beautiful
brown ocean. There's nothing like that lovely mixture of sand and
crude oil between your toes.
Even if you can't travel out of state before
the fall semester starts, there are still worlds of fun to be had.
