By Leah de Roy
I love autumn. I anticipate the first falling leaf the way an eight-year-old waits for Christmas morning. I’m one of those lunatics you might see sweating half to death in a wool sweater, scarf and boots on a 25-degree September afternoon, or dog-earing pages of seasonal dessert recipes from Canadian Living in the grocery checkout line. Yes, I have reached the extremities of your sweet-but-barmy neighbour. This may be expected behaviour for someone of post-retirement age, but not for a college freshman who should be nursing a hangover instead of a hankering for pumpkin spice loaf. For you, autumn might mean waiting for a bus in the erratic Vancouver weather, the start of a new semester, and saying goodbye to friends or significant others going to international universities, but before you add to these protests towards the fall, let’s be optimistic. There’s one or two — or ten, to be exact — reasons to love the season of change.
Well, not literally — I don’t know about you, but I’d prefer to not sit in a cluster of nostril-picking, Crayola-eating, fidgeting six-year-olds as the teacher reads The Little Engine That Could. Those days are long gone, but that doesn’t mean you can’t still have fun like a kid. With autumn come costume parties; granted, with skankier costumes and beer pong instead of apple bobbing, but costume parties nonetheless. There are also piles of dead foliage just inviting you to jump in. Go on, jump. Listen to that gratifying crunch of leaves under your shoes. Nobody’s watching, and if they are, they’re thinking of doing the same thing.
Finally, you can dig up that astonishingly warm and comfy S.F.U sweatshirt from the depths of your closet, and wear it just about everywhere: classes, the library, the grocery store — heck, even your next dentist appointment. You’ll get your 60 dollars’ worth, and who doesn’t secretly exult in boasting their school initials in bold lettering across their chest? You’ll be snug, toasty and shamelessly promoting school pride.
Starbucks is renowned for its seasonal menu staples: pumpkin scones, pumpkin cream cheese muffins, salted caramel hot chocolate, and — my personal guilty favourite — the pumpkin spice lattes. If you aren’t in the mood to trudge through the tempestuous wind and rain to the Starbucks kiosk in the West Mall Complex, try the Blenz or Renaissance version of the pumpkin spice latte. The weather doesn’t seem quite as objectionable with the sound of rain splattering against the windowpane and a cup of five hundred delicious and caffeinated calories in hand.
Transit rides and studying can be draining and tedious. However, the right songs can set the ambiance and maybe even ignite some spark of motivation. I’ve recently discovered a highly addictive website called 8tracks.com that is excellent for finding and creating “mood” playlists. There is something enchanting about listening to tunes by Simon and Garfunkel, The Smiths, and Cat Power on a chilly autumn morning. Whether you’re a fan of rap, classical, alternative metal, or pop, make a playlist and revel in the magic. If you’re walking through campus with your headphones on and appear to be stepping to a beat, those around you will refrain from interrupting. After all, who doesn’t mentally star in their own music videos every now and again?
Autumn actually has a distinct smell: a combination of roasting chestnuts, nutmeg, bonfire smoke and rain — a delightful melange that even the masterminds at Bath & Body Works can’t seem to bottle up and label. Just stepping outside makes you hungry for your grandmother’s baking.
Just because the summer is over, it does not mean that the festivals and events have also come to a close. So quit weeping over those photos from Live at Squamish, and buy your tickets for Fringe, Fright Nights at the PNE, the Vancouver International Writer’s Festival (featuring famed literary and academic icons such as David Suzuki and Margaret Atwood), or a Rocky Horror viewing at the Rio.
It’s common knowledge that study breaks are imperative to a university student’s success. You’ve been toiling at that 3000 word paper for the past four hours, your retinas are burning from overexposure to the computer monitor, every bone and muscle in your body aches, and your brain has liquefied into some indistinguishable substance equivalent to your cat’s thrown-up lunch. Perhaps that’s your cue to put down your laptop and pick up the remote (or a book, but let’s just appreciate the values of mindless entertainment.) From supernatural dramas (such as 666 Park Avenue) to astonishingly stupid comedies (like Animal Practice), plus the returning favorites, there is a wide miscellany of choices for a distraction — um, break.
Taking a walk through a park is much more charming in the fall: the colours are beautiful, there isn’t any snow to clamber through, and it isn’t so hot that you’re melting in a puddle of your own sweat by the time you reach the top of that laboriously steep hill. If you have a weekend or afternoon to spare, bundle up and go for a scenic stroll (Stanley Park is the classic choice, of course) or even through such picturesque neighbourhoods as Commercial Drive or the Kits Beach area. Autumn walks are always inspiring, and potentially productive (walking does count as exercise, right?)
Whether you’re watching from your living room couch or the pandemonium of the bleachers, or even playing on the field or court yourself, fall athletics seem to be long-awaited by you sports folk. For those of us who don’t play or watch, well, at least we know that our sports-loving relatives will have something to do during the family gatherings common to this season.
It might only be one extra hour, but more sleep is more sleep. I think I am speaking on behalf of the nationwide student population when I respond with a hearty “yes, please” to that.
