With cold, wet weather coming fast, Ashland University students are bundling up on their walk to classes. Fall has come yet again and winter weather is seemingly moving closer and closer. With gale force winds and heavy rains, shivering students have been forced to pull out those dreaded winter coats. Gone are the tank tops and shorts. The students at AU have traded them in and are putting on the winter apparel in order to try to stay warm on those now breezy walks to class. There are not all bad reactions to the change in seasons, though.

Ian Divley studies music education. He has to walk from his dorm in Clayton to his class at the Center for the Arts building. With the temperatures becoming cooler, Divley is less than eager to take that stroll.

“It’s annoying to walk out in the cold rainy weather, especially when it’s like a monsoon,” Divley said.

Ashland has not been having any monsoon like weather but a few days of clouds and rain can easily become tedious. A condition that makes one feel as if it is never going to go away.

According to homefacts.com, Ohio’s average temperature in October is 50.6 degrees. Ashland is staying relatively close to those temperatures and is getting prepared for the upcoming winter months; a time when temperatures will drop even further.

“I get out my blue jeans, warm shirts and jackets for the cold weather,” Divley said.

Although Divley expressed that he doesn’t like the cold temperatures that are brought during fall, he did say that he enjoyed the beauty of the season. Divley enjoys the leaves as they change color and the brisk morning air.

Junior Ashley Vangilder agrees with Divley that the colors of fall are something that is good on the eyes. However, she has more trouble with the cool morning temperatures as she wakes up in her dorm.

“My dorm has no heat right now, so when I wake up I put on thick shirts and a hood,” Vangilder said.

Not only does the low temperature in her dorm frustrate her. Walking from point A to point B on campus in this weather is agonizing for Vangilder.

“I walk from Kem to the CFA building, and it can be a pain. This is especially true when it is raining,” Vangilder said.

The forecast for the next few months shows the same overall weather that we always have during this time of year. Students aren’t enjoying that long walk from class to class, but are accepting what is happening. The cold is here for a while and there is nothing that can be done except to endure it.

Grab your umbrella and put on your coats because the season has changed, and there is no going back.

What’s coming next may be even tougher on the students and citizens of Ashland County. For those of you who may need a hint, it is white, fluffy and cold.