Winter in Saskatchewan is like none other. With its harsh windchill and pure grey sky, it’s an excuse to stay home — except if you happen to live on campus. 

Living in residence is a whole other experience compared to living off-campus. First of all, there is the number of people surrounding you, secondly, the food is not great, and most recently, the fashion has been wild.

There are three main residences on campus. Voyageur Place is located directly on campus with access to all the buildings through the tunnels. Then there’s College Quarter, the residence across from the Stadium Parkade. And lastly, you can find McEown Park tucked further behind, just off of Aird street. 

The last two are technically off-campus since you still have to walk to school. It’s much closer than where most students live, but you need to bundle up when walking to school especially when temperatures drop like they did earlier this month. 

However, those lucky VP residents don’t have to step outside to access anything on campus since they can hit the tunnels to most of the buildings around campus — RIP to people with classes in the Education Building. Because of this easy access, many residents can be seen wearing summertime gear in the dead of winter

They wear nothing but shorts, t-shirts and flip-flops year-round. Hell, sometimes they even wear tank tops when it’s -30 degree Celsius. But is it okay for them to wear this fashion when the rest of us are bundled in two sweaters, a jacket and a million other accessories to keep us warm? 

To be fair, it’s understandable that they continue to sport last year’s summer fashion. They can continue to wear shorts without feeling the windchill eat away at their legs because they never have to step outside.

But for the rest of us who have to commute to school, we’re often stuck with battered, bright red legs after our brisk jaunt to campus despite having our legs fully covered. 

This seems unfair. We continue to suffer with the cold and have to be reminded of the lost summer days whenever we see a VP kid shuffling through the tunnels in flip-flops. 

Saskatchewan weather is unpredictable at best. When we do experience a little summer, we try our best to make the most of it. So to be reminded of that brief time period where we aren’t covered in grandma’s sweaters and long johns feels like a stab in the heart.

Of course, everyone is welcome to wear whatever the hell they want but at the same time, be reasonable. It’s Saskatchewan and winter here lasts forever.  

Ditch the winter shorts and flip-flops combo and sub for a fuzzy robe and furry slippers —  let’s all suffer together. Enjoy the warmth, VP kids. I hope none of you have a lecture in Quance Theatre.

—

Yashica Bither

Graphic: Shawna Langer/ Graphics Editor