After a weekend that was supposed to be a total washout turned out to be quite the sunny surprise, it is safe to say that springtime has finally arrived at Villanova. And as usual, we have embraced it warmly with open arms.

While spring actually began last month (March 20, to be exact), it is only recently that it has begun to really feel like spring. Any student most likely knows what I mean.

The flowers across campus have opened up in an explosion of color, and the trees have blossomed as well, becoming leafy once again.

Shorts and flip-flops are making their way back into everyone’s daily wardrobe. Let’s face it: it’s just not the same when you’re wearing them in 30-degree weather.

Outdoor sports and lounging also become regular sights. West Campus seems more like the beach as students lay blankets out onto the grass, turn up the volume on their iPod speakers and tune out.

Mendel Field is once again populated with flying discs and avid lovers of the glorious sport of ultimate.

After months spent either cooped up in the stuffiness indoors or shivering while bundled up in layers outdoors, spring weather provides a welcome relief to the monotony and boredom of the lingering winter season.

Yet while spring is traditionally a season of rebirth and new beginnings, it is also a period marked by a kind of longing for the past.

Spring floods me with sudden waves of nostalgia that I can’t quite catalog – it’s more a sensation, if anything. The warmth, the scents and even the music of the season catapult me back in time to springs of the past.

Swirling in my head are memories of high school springs spent lounging in the park after school, as well as earlier springs at Villanova – memories that get older over time, giving them a bittersweet quality. But overall, they are far sweeter than bitter.

Truly, there is something utterly intoxicating about spring. That voice in my head telling me to drag myself to the library to start my term paper is drowned out by a louder voice telling me to forget the paper, drop everything and run outside as fast as I can.

And all too frequently, I give in. Despite every bit of our best judgment, we are drawn toward the warmth of the sun like a moth to a flame.

Yet there is a cruel irony surrounding the arrival of the beauty of spring, an occurrence that college students know all too well: the school year hits warp speed and pulls into overdrive.

As April progresses, a direct relationship exists between temperature and amount of work: the nicer it is outside, the larger one’s workload is at that moment. It’s no wonder that finals week in May is more harrowing than it is in December.

And yet, a kind of miracle takes place: We get through it. Those eternal nights in the library are followed by sunlit mornings that make the stressed-out student feel perhaps the slightest bit better, even if it’s only for a short while.

When spring is in session, we as students are forced to make a tradeoff: a few less hours of sleep and a few more energy drinks to finish that eight-to-10-pager in exchange for the spices of springtime.

It’s the price we have to pay, but it’s worth it for all of the end-of-the-year festivities we get to experience, with NovaFest being the icing on that chaotic cake.

Ultimately, spring is a refreshing and invigorating time during the storm known as the end of the semester.

Like a reward for another school year close to finished, it reminds us that we’ve done it before, and somehow, we’ll do it once again.

Keep spring in your step, Villanova.

——————-

Brigid Black is a junior English and French major from Brooklyn, N.Y. She can be reached at [email protected].