Winter is upon us and students are saddling up with more layers, coffee and hot chocolate. To avoid freezing off your nose hiking from the Student Center to Sill Hall, here’s some great tips to stay warm and some shortcuts that are a little less frigid than others.
1. Find buildings that mirror others
Some of the best pathways to take are ones where the wind can be blocked. For example, when walking to Ford from Pease Auditorium, Pierce and Boone tend to block the wind coming from the Cross Street side or the blustery wind tunnel in the center of campus near King Hall, Sherzer Hall and Starkweather Hall.
2. Know where the coffee is
Keep track of where to get a warm beverage. Whether it is coffee or tea, grabbing a hot drink is always a good survival tactic when it’s snowing. The Student Center is home to a Starbucks, which is convenient considering there are no warm or wind-blocked paths from the Student Center to the rest of campus. On the south side of campus on Cross Street, near the Water Tower, is Sweetwaters Coffee & Tea.
If the corporate coffee house isn’t for you, further down Cross Street is the Ugly Mug Café and Roastery. There are options for the College of Business students, too. About a five-minute walk from the off-campus building is B-24’s in Downtown Ypsilanti. If that doesn’t strike your fancy, there are multiple Eagle Cafés scattered around campus in the College of Business, McKenny Hall, Pray-Harrold, Jefferson Science Complex, Halle Library and the Alexander Music Building.
3. Map Your Route
It’s pretty easy to decide which way you will take to your class when you start the semester and the sun is shining, but have you found the most effective route? Are you going around the long way and not realizing it? Pick up a campus map and decide which way is the most efficient to tread.
For example, if you are parked in the Ford parking lot by Quirk, it is actually much easier to walk past Alexander and Sill (or through if you are avoiding five-foot snow drifts). Then walk past Pease parking lot and Roosevelt to get to south campus. The alternative route is past Snow, Porter and Marshall, which is all uphill. That can be nice when trying to get in some cardio when spring has sprung, but when it’s below zero outside and you are wearing Converse shoes, it might be a little challenging traction wise.
4. Dress Accordingly
If you know we are getting an arctic blast, don’t leave the REC/IM in gym shorts and a tank top! Layer up in coats, hoodies, gloves and hats. We lose most of the heat we can contain through our heads, so keep that bean of yours bundled. The EMU Bookstore stocks books to warm your brain, and hats to keep the heat inside, along with puffer coats and scarves for the students on campus needing winter swag.
