"Who can forget her sharp and misty mornings,
The clanging bells, the crunch of feet on snow,
Her sparkling noons, the crowding into Commons,
The long white afternoons, the twilight glow?
See! by the light of many thousand sunsets, Dartmouth Undying like a vision starts;
Dartmouth, the gleaming, dreaming walls of Dartmouth,
Miraculously builded in our hearts!"
Those are the words from the second stanza of "Dartmouth Undying." I always liked that song. Maybe it is a bit overdone on the romantic side of things, but it has a nice tune and brings to mind a lot of pleasant images of Dartmouth. The one part of the song that has nagged at me the last four years is the fifth line. My problem with this line is one only rarely sees a sunset here. My freshman year, I clearly remember being in awe of the lack of sunlight. It rained during trips. This was followed by a three day respite of glorious sunshine and then BAM! -- a good 8 months of rain, snow and partly cloudy days.
"Who can forget her soft September sunsets?" asks the fifth line of the first stanza. It is a well-put question since I don't think I could possibly forget any of the September sunsets I've seen; there have only been four. Don't get me wrong -- I love snow, and rain makes the stories from trips a lot more interesting, but the lack of sunshine and green vegetation can make things seem a bit cheerless after a while. As a school, I think we recognize this. Sports Illustrated ranked Dartmouth as the number one winter sports school in the nation. Our climate and location is perfect for Nordic and alpine skiing, and I think nearly every student ever to walk the Hanover Plain has sledded freshman hill, skated on Occum Pond or frolicked on the Green in one of the massive snowball fights that spontaneously erupt during the first snow storms of November. We take well to the snows and make the winter a fun time. After a while, the cold and bleak gray begin to wear on you though. Sure, there is the occasional cherished day when the cold air is nearly as crystalline as the snow and the weak winter sun finds a way to light up the world, but these days seem few and far in between. The gray days, the slushy days, the months of trudging through the gooey sludge of sand, snow and salt take their toll.
By the beginning of March, we are all ready for it to end. We
can't wait for it to end, but then the rains start. Mud season. Finally,
miraculously, the first warm day of spring comes to pass. The campus
population seemingly triples as students pour forth from the stifling
prisons of dormitories and classrooms. People's smiles are a bit broader;
their step a bit lighter. Shorts, sandals and summer dresses are recovered
from the bottom of the closet. An outsider would think we were all crazy
-- Hundreds of students out sunning themselves on a soggy Green in 40
degree weather, but hey, it's the first day of spring. It's warm. It's sunny!
I've loved the multitude of sunny days we've had this year. Whatever the reason -- El Nino, global warming, a butterfly flapping its wings in Kyoto -- I have to admit I've relished every day. Next year, things will more than likely return to a wetter state. More rain, more snow, more cloudy days. As I prepare to graduate and leave my home of four years, I can only offer this advice: enjoy the sunny days. Take a hike, go canoeing, rope swing, watch the trees bud, swim the Connecticut, play outdoor hoops, sun yourself on the Green, read outside under a tree, do whatever it is you can to enjoy the sunny days because they are beautiful and all too few.