As the weather becomes gentler and clouds give way to warmer blue skies, I am reminded of how much I love the coming of spring, but not spring itself. I often give it the cold shoulder when answering the “What’s your favorite season?” icebreaker because, when comparing spring to her seasonal siblings, it always feels to me like the others have so much more to offer. Fall is an undeniable favorite—its palette of tingling spices, fiery foliage, and brisk weather culminates in an alluring image of the harvest season. Winter revels with festivity amidst the frigidity from its year-end holidays to warm the heart, keep out the cold, and temper the bleak grays of the season. And summer demands romps and relaxation beneath its brazen heat. Its promises of an ever-deep well of possibility have carved out for it a sacred place in countless children’s hearts (cue the Phineas and Ferb theme song). So what, then, is special about spring?
Of course, there are flowers and the long-awaited return of the sun’s warmth, but with spring also comes exams and final projects, keeping us indoors and away from relishing spring’s gifts. The weather can be more unpredictable than the others; it’s bright and warm one day, then sluggish and wet the next. Not to mention the pollen. Last year, I could scarcely finish a sentence without getting whiplash from a pollen-powered sneeze. Trust that I am armed and ready with my antihistamines this year. Still, despite whatever personal gripes I have with spring, it is undeniably a special time of the year, particularly for us students. As we approach this lead-up to the end of the academic year, I want to share some things to do to make the most of spring on College Hill:
Linger in the light
One of spring’s greatest offerings is its particular brand of sunlight. Not too hot that you feel yourself cooking in its rays, but just warm enough where you wanna stay and soak up as much as you can. Grab a picnic blanket, your friends, and some snacks (crisp green grapes never miss) and join the swaths of like-minded springtime revelers on the Main or Quiet Greens. If the crowd is a turn-off, take a little stroll to the plot behind Barus and Holley or down to India Point Park. For those on your way to class and pushing away the temptation to skip, take a few seconds to lift your face up to the sun, cherish that comforting warmth, and recall how you were burying your face in a scarf from the chill just a few weeks earlier.
Budding blossoms
I am not well-versed enough in horticulture to identify them, but there are some beautiful flowering trees on campus. The ones on the Main Green side of Faunce Arch, in the courtyard in front of Hegeman, and right behind Barus and Holley, just to name a few. I haven’t had the chance to make the rounds yet, but as you walk around campus, sneak a glance at the budding trees nearby. Pass them each day, and note how the buds get bigger, fuzzier, closer to the moment when they brave a peek out to the world. Spare the seconds it takes to approach a tree, study it, pet its downy buds, and return once it’s finally blossomed. Be that flower’s day one. They won’t last forever, so make the most of their fleeting beauty.
Engage in the spirit of renewal
I think of spring as a time for second chances, when things can come back to life. Embracing that, find things in your life that may have been pushed to the side a bit and rejuvenate them. Reach out to a friend to grab a meal. Take a trip to a thrift store (Savers, Salvation Army, Hall’s, or Nostalgia) and find some new pieces or trinkets to give a new home. It’s not a bad choice for planning a Spring Weekend look either! In that same vein, offer up some of your own items in the spirit of spring cleaning. After a long winter of stockpiling outfit layers and hunkering down indoors, now’s the perfect time to refresh your space, declutter a bit, and come out the other end rejuvenated and recentered. There are lots of clothing drives, especially as we get into May, and opportunities to donate unworn clothes that someone else would be grateful to have.
Spend some time on yourself too. Any day can be the start of a new journey, so why not channel that extra spring zing into a personal goal? Read a few pages of that book you put down a while ago before bed each night, start going to the gym a few times a week, do some journaling or self-reflection. Flowers don’t have to be the only things that bloom this season.
Try a new experience
There’s a bevy of student performance group shows in these next couple months (DAEBAK this Friday and Saturday, and Gendo Taiko on April 18 and 19 are my personal recs ?), but keep an eye and an ear out for weekend performances from the numerous student dance, music, and a capella groups. As much as campus has to offer, there’s also a wealth of experience off campus. Take a bike trip with friends on the East Bay Bike Path (if you don’t have a bike, check out Bikes@Brown!), hit up a club in Downtown, take a trip to Roger Williams Zoo, go climbing at Rock Spot Climbing and grab some banh mi at Asian Bakery & Fast Food right across the street, or hop on a RIPTA (free with Brown ID) to the beaches of southern Rhode Island. Why keep the joys of spring relegated to the Hill?
Part of spring’s cruel beauty is what her presence elucidates—that all good things come to an end, and we’ll miss them when they’re gone. Flowers bloom with the promise of withering. As much as spring means renewal, it also means the end of the school year and the close of a chapter of life for us students. Whether you’ve got years ahead of you at Brown or are priming yourself for graduation, remember to seize the day (especially these precious warm ones) and delight in nature’s gifts for completing another year. Our lives turn a new leaf with each spring, and whatever fears or excitement that stirs within you, there’s an undeniable value in relishing the uniquely joyous circumstances of the final stretch to the end.
As Spring gets to her feet, give her a hand up. Stop and smell the roses that pop up around her. Shore her little wonders into your arms. Let them rest in the gentle bend of your elbow, and arrange them into bouquets to admire and pass between loving hands. The memory of their sweet scent will last through all seasons.