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Thursday, March 28, 2024
The Observer

School's In for the Summer

Ladies and gentlemen, buckle up. I'm about to drop some knowledge, blow your minds, and change your lives. As you all know, South Bend weather is atrocious. Winter is a place where dreams and happiness go to die. During the months of January through April there seems to be little to live for beyond my mom's birthday (Feb, 2, send her a card) and my roommate's 21st. The first snowfall is fantastic, and to my Floridian eyes the first real fall is as delicious as a double chuck brownie with chocolate ice cream and chocolate syrup with chocolate milk on the side. Snow football, snow forts, snowmen - all good things; not to mention sledding and my one goal for this winter: being towed behind a car on a trash can lid. However, after going home to open presents in shorts and a t-shirt followed up by a trip to the beach, coming back to a place that looks like the post-apocalyptic nuclear winter becomes less and less appealing as the years go on. Living in winter just plain sucks, Christmas carols can only carry me so far, and I love Christmas carols. My inconsolable rage at the sheer bitterness of the winter was only compounded this summer as I stayed on campus. The weather was fantastic! It was Notre Dame as it was meant to be enjoyed. I went outside, took a weekend trip or two, saw green grass and the trees actually had leaves. It was after this idyllic time that I came up with a solution. Why doesn't Notre Dame change their schedule so we have our summer break ... in winter? And boom goes the dynamite. Just think about it. First day of school in the middle of April with a weeklong summer break in June. The semester ends at the beginning of August. There would be a three-week break until the end of August/ beginning of September. For the first time ever, Labor Day would be a holiday and Thanksgiving a weeklong vacation. Then we come back for the final stretch taking exams right before Christmas traipsing home with a free heart unfettered by the weight of school. Flawless! When we're at school the weather will be nice, we can be outside, enjoy the sun, and not become as pale as Gollum. Plus, with the weather beautiful outside there will be countless opportunities to recreate the volleyball scene from "Top Gun" and spend time "playing with the boys." By finishing just before Christmas, students would be home for the holidays and able to spend quality time with the family when everyone is sure to be around. Plus, what better gift can you give a mother than the news that you passed and are now a sophomore, junior, senior or that you're moving back in? The next three months, January, February and March, are our long break. If you really miss the snow, you can visit friends and go snowboarding. If you are normal, you can come to my house and we'll go sailing, or maybe take a cruise to the Grand Caymans, set up a surf shop and just not come back in the spring. We will have about a month off while friends from high school are on summer vacation, and honestly who needs more than a month straight of high school again? It's short enough that you enjoy every second spent with them and long enough that you are excited to get back to school and finish up the year. I see no downside to this. It may be the greatest idea since sliced bread or the forward pass. Do me a favor think about it. Tell your friends. It'll be legendary.