February 5, 2010 was the first day that Loyola University Maryland reacted to the “expected” inclement weather. After hearing reports that classes would end at noon on the 5th, I was understandably excited, but mostly embarrassed by Maryland’s fear of what I thought would be a few flakes that would melt in a couple of hours. Little did I know, those few snowflakes would actually amount to over two feet of snow. The initial news of canceled classes instilled a sense of childish happiness in the students of Loyola. However, this happiness soon turned into boredom, which, in many cases, led to slight insanity.

In the first couple hours of “Snowpocolypse 2010”, my friends and I built a pretty epic fort, which we then barricaded ourselves in because a group of hooligans incited a snowball fight. We won, of course. The next couple of days consisted of destroying said fort, building a couple of snowmen, drinking large amounts of hot chocolate, and sitting by fully-cranked heaters in order to dry off and warm up from hours spent in the cold.

By about day four, boredom began to set in. Movie marathon? Sure. Eight hours and four movies later… what now? Walking to Boulder to get nourishment became a hassle in itself. It was inevitable that someone would slip on a patch of ice during the fifteen minute walk thatwould usually take seven minutes, at the most, in normal conditions. Hours would be spent in Boulder because of the overall dread of re-entering the frigid temperatures. We played numerous games of Balderdash and MadGab. It eventually became necessaryto visit friends from other buildings just to see a change in environment.

By the time Friday came, boredom had begun its transition into insanity for some. My friends and I sat around my dining room table, thinking about things to do. We searched Google for “what to do in a snow storm.” We played “I Spy” for what seemed like an eternity. We laughed at absolutely nothing. One friend was, at one point, so overcome by laughter that she began to cry. If we didn’t get out of the room and find something to do, it seemed like we would soon die. A little dramatic, yes. After hours of staring at the wall and complaining about having nothing to do, we soon resorted to sleeping.

Of course, now we are all scrambling to do all of the school work that we probably should have been doing while we were suffering from boredom. Yes, the break was fun for a short while, but I think the consensus may be that returning to our regular schedules is much needed. The monotony of everyday life may seem boring at times. However; even sitting in class for hours at at a time beats not having anything to do at all for hours at a time.

Photo Courtesy of Meg Peterson