Gone With the Wind
Every Monday, Wednesday and Friday morning, I make the 0.4 mile trek from Fordham Hall to Sullivan Center for Student Services for my first class of the day. Earlier in the school year, I was able to calculate that it takes me approximately 12 minutes to make that walk, which allows me to leave my dorm at 9:08 am and still make it to my 9:20 am class on time. However, starting in mid October, I noticed that I was consistently arriving at Sullivan sometime between 9:22 am and 9:24 am, thus making me late to class. I soon figured out the cause of my troubles: wind tunnels.
As a girl of small stature, the wind on campus is a formidable enemy for me. I have been blown into walls, bushes, traffic and helpless pedestrians. The best way to explain what I look like when caught up in a wind tunnel is to recommend that you watch this video:
Ducks blown off their feet by wind
In the map below, I have included my route to class and the areas on campus that I consider to be wind tunnels, symbolized by tornadoes. As you can see, I encounter three such wind tunnels on my way to class.
Realizing this allowed me to conclude that, even as unknowledgeable in physics as I am, I needed to factor wind resistance into the time it takes me to get to class. I now add about a minute for every normal sized wind tunnel and a minute and 30 seconds for every large wind tunnel I encounter, so I get to my classes, meetings, and adventures on time.
And the more I venture out, the more I come to realize that I can brave any weather, no matter how blustery…especially if I have my backpack to weigh me down!