Now that summer is just around the bend, it is time to bring back the most timeless debate in the book: whether or not winter is better than summer. Now, while I must admit that I have a bias that leans heavily toward winter due to my status as a winter baby, I also undeniably have logic-based reasons for preferring the colder months over the warmer ones. The main reasons for this are boredom, weather, and overall quality of life.

As students, we are accustomed to yearning for any point in time when we can stay home and miss a few days (or weeks) of school. I can understand loving summer for this particular reason, but winter also includes a few weeks of vacation from school. In fact, I actually prefer winter break over summer break because winter break has just the right amount of time away from school. Whereas summer break goes on for so long that I lose my sanity (from pure boredom), winter break has a special quality to it that gives students the rest they need but also ends just before the boredom of staying at home slowly morphs into a mental breakdown and intellectual deterioration.

Aside from boredom, summer weather is just another hurdle that prevents people like me from happiness during the months of June and July. The most obvious hindrance is the heat. This is multiplied tenfold by the fact that we live in a hot, southern Californian valley. Not only do we get hit with heat, but we also get hit with humidity — something that is already starting to set in now, during the month of April. The heat and humidity hit with a certain specificity that leads to multiple hours of sleep lost every night. Do I want the sheet on or off? Window open or closed? Fan on, socks off? Summer only leads to needless suffering.

The heat affects every aspect of our lives. Sticky clothes, smelly sunscreen, chafing legs, and the bugs that come out to play as soon as things warm up. Summer as a whole greatly reduces our quality of life. Sure, not all of these things hit some people as hard as others, but why would anyone choose the burning heat over the cooling winds of winter? Why would anyone exchange a nice warm sweater for a “Suns out, Buns out” t-shirt and an uncomfortable pair of flip flops? The choice seems clear to me. Winter is clearly the superior season of the year, and I can only wait eagerly for it to come around again. But for now,  the rest of the student body and I must endure the Pains of Summer™.