Amid the unending slog of exams and projects coupled with the anticipation of winter break, the impending spring semester might get lost in the shuffle. Yet the piercing winds and gray, blustery days are making one thing clear — winter has arrived in Champaign-Urbana, and it’ll only get colder from here on out.

The bad news: No immediate relief is on the way. It’s been as cold as 25 degrees below zero in C-U in years past, with even the average daily highs in January hovering just a tick above freezing. Worse yet, all four occasions on which the mind-boggling minus-25 plateau was reached came after the new year, a harrowing reminder the worst is still on the way.

“You’re about to get humbled, that’s what I would say,” said Alyssa Lopez, sophomore in AHS.

But while the weather won’t relent, the good news is that winter break will allow students to reset, recalibrate and brace themselves for the frigid onslaught shortly.

Ready for battle

For many students, especially those who grew up in cold climates, waging war against the winter comes down to mind over matter. This includes Angel Moreno, freshman in Engineering and LAS, who refuses to let the weather dictate his lifestyle.

“Usually, I just walk around,” Moreno said. “I do take the bus for the further classes, but (the cold) really hasn’t changed too much.”

But Moreno, a Chicago native who has grown used to being buffeted by fierce Midwestern winters, admitted his unfazed routine might not be for everyone.

“I’d say (living in a cold region has helped) because I knew … what type of weather to expect, and I was prepared for it,” Moreno said.

Lopez, who also hails from Chicago, noted she’d been “dealing with cold weather for as long as I could remember.” But even the battle-tested Illinoisan tweaks her regimen when winter arrives.

“I find myself taking (the bus) pretty often, for almost every class, especially when it gets like 30 or 25-ish (degrees),” Lopez said.

Making the adjustment

While many students are seasoned veterans of winter, not everyone at the University is indifferent to the cold. Dhruv Kolagatla, sophomore in Engineering, is from the southern portion of India, where winter’s icy grasp is far less oppressive.

“Since I’m from the southern region of India, year-round, it’s quite warm and sunny,” Kolagatla said. “So this is definitely my first experience of a multi-seasonal climate and a strong winter.”

While Kolagatla normally scooters or walks around campus, the winter has caused him to rely less on those modes of transportation and more on other means, like the MTD buses.

University students have free, unlimited access to MTD buses, a service many students utilize in the winter months.

“The bus does its job,” Lopez said. “It gets me from point A to point B, no complaints.”

However, for Kolagatla, the service isn’t doing enough to fulfill all his cold-weather needs. Not only did Kolagatla mention the buses often arrive early or late, making it hard to plan them into his schedule, but he also noted that certain regions of campus aren’t getting enough bus routes.

“I feel like a lot of students live on the upper side of Green (Street), and there’s not a lot of buses that are accessible from those locations to the southern parts of campus,” Kolagatla said. “So I feel like if there were more bus routes on that side, it would definitely be great.”

A word of advice

Whether students are from warm climates miles away or have toiled in the nearby cold for decades, they all echoed a similar sentiment. No matter your plan, you’ll have to spend some time in frigid temperatures and stay warm while doing it.

For Lopez and Kolagatla, who grew up in vastly different cultures and climates, their advice for dealing with a C-U winter was surprisingly similar.

“Invest in a good coat,” Lopez said. “I’d say good coat, good scarf, some mittens.”

For Kolagatla, who said he prefers a warmer temperature even in southern India’s milder weather, having all the necessary paraphernalia is paramount.

“Investing in a good jacket, gloves, scarves and beanies has definitely been a good move,” Kolagatla said.

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