The Weather (Ahem… Winter)
This is Syracuse. That means you’re more likely to see a UFO than a patch of grass from November to March. We get a lot of snow, but the sun still shines. Your collection of Ray Bans will grow to combat the snow glare and so will your accumulation of frackets (frat jacket = fracket, for the ill-informed). When it’s that cold, you don’t want to take your $200 North Face jacket to a party, so you buy as many inexpensive frackets as you can, knowing some girl who decided to wear her invisible tequila jacket to a party might take it.
Your jacket won’t disappear at every party though, because the Orange are a tough breed. You’ll find girls trudging through snow in 5-inch heels, wearing their summer wardrobes without so much as a shiver. Since froyo is a major food group at SU, we can also admit that the two degree weather keeps it cold, and that keeps us happy. Students continue to party outside frat houses, bars and infamous parking lots in winter, but a solid fracket can only take you so far. That’s why God invented Fireball.
Winter Clothes Are Expensive
The cold weather also means an extended beanie season. At SU you’ll find the frattiest guys wearing beanies and scarves; it’s a good look and may be the only place on earth where Sorel and Canada Goose serve as the most telling status symbols.
Wishing Snow Removal Was a Problem
You know that feeling when you wake up early, draw back the curtains and realize you’ve been blessed with a snow day? That won’t happen here. At SU, snow days happen about every 18 years. Literally. March of 2011 marked Syracuse’s second snow day in history since 1993. Unfortunately, SU has the best snow removal. Which means no cancelled classes. And yes, those South Campus buses still maneuver in a blizzard (don’t ask me how).
When you see someone literally ski down Comstock Avenue in a snowstorm and you aren’t surprised, that means you’ve truly come to embrace the weather.
Drawbacks of City Life
Syracuse is a major city, which students often forget when they’re up on the hill (SU’s campus). However, the reality of city life plays out off campus, as close as Marshall Street, where you can find two fanatic Jesus-loving picketers who will scream at you for having sex or being a homosexual, and homeless men that will ask you for a buck. You’ve really settled into SU when those screaming “disciples” become just another daily fixture, like traffic you need to dodge.
