Spring on a college campus brings with it a little more than a change of seasons. To name a few…

Campus tours. Come springtime campus is flooded again with loads of wide-eyed high school students and their parents. Don’t worry about your parents asking embarrassing college questions on the tours. We’ve all been there and really they just have your best interests at heart.

Frisbee games on the quad. We can all finally take a break from being trapped inside, so outdoor quad activity is back in full swing. Frisbee, football or just sitting in the grass (because good news there is grass), we’re down for whatever involves a little fresh air.

Loyola’s incredible grounds staff has the campus bursting with beautiful blooms. I don’t think that the gardeners at LUC get enough credit for all the work they put into to maintaining our beautiful campus. The blooming daffodils make me smile every time I walk past.

Unpredictable weather. Spring in Chicago doesn’t necessarily mean warmer weather and rain showers. A few days have been warm and pleasant, allowing the grass to green and for students to embrace the outdoors. But, it snowed on April 2nd, not even a little flurry in the morning. A sporadic, all-day, on-again off-again blizzard-y, occasionally sunny, spring, Chicago day.

Initial excitement, quickly followed by end of semester stress. My gut reaction to the onset of spring is to get super excited for summer, since now it’s just around the corner. But I think I speak for most of my classmates when I say that our summer excitement is shortly overcome by the realization that the five hardest weeks of the semester are standing in the way of our summer break.

Senioritis is in full swing. As I look around at the class ahead of me the symptoms of Senioritis are evident. They are prepping for the next steps in their lives and itching to graduate. Their excitement is also mixed with a sense of worry as they step outside the world of undergrad to embrace something new.

As you can see, spring on a college campus is a bit different than elsewhere. Even so, it’s still easily one of the best times of the year.