Though she hid it well behind a smile, Deeksha Gupta '10 had a marathon travel journey back to Brown. After a four-hour drive from her hometown of Chandigarh, India to Indira Gandhi International Airport in Delhi, 10 hours on a plane to London's Heathrow Airport, a 20-hour stopover in England, seven hours on a second plane to Boston, a missed bus at South Station, a commuter rail ride to Providence, a taxi cab to Brown and a swan dive into her bed in Keeney Quadrangle, Gupta was finally back.
"I was literally falling over by the time I made it here," said Gupta, who was feeling the effects of a 10.5-hour time difference. "Once I got into bed, I thought I'd never leave."
In addition to jet lag, Gupta has had to adjust to the biting Providence weather, which dipped into the teens over the weekend. But Gupta said that the greater contrast was the presence of snow, which is seldom seen in her Indian hometown.
"It's really pretty," Gupta said of the white patches dotting the Main Green. "But it's cold."
In nearby Caswell Hall, California native Autumn Graham '09 adjusted to the cold weather by trying to keep her mind off of it and thinking instead about all the work ahead of her as classes start.
"When I came in, I felt pure dread at the sight of snow, but now it's not so bad," she said. "I have a two-page to-do list, so I don't have time to think about snow - I'm stressing out."
One item on Graham's list is planning a spring break trip, which for now is a mental refuge of sun and warmth from the grey skies of Providence.
"I'm really happy to see all my friends," she said. "But break is never too short."
For Jill Lambiase '10, the trip back to Brown hit a rut when, minutes before her arrival on campus, she realized that she had forgotten her laptop at home. Luckily for her, Lambiase's home is East Greenwich, R.I., so she made a quick U-turn and drove 15 minutes back to her house.
With no redeye flight, no jetlag and no weather change, Lambiase's return to Brown has been relaxed.
"I've been sleeping in a lot, so the biggest adjustment for me will be waking up early for class," she said. Then she smiled and added, "On second thought, there might not be much adjustment at all."
Transition to life at Brown has been easier still for Meredith Daniels '07, who spent most of her break on campus as student coordinator of the University's inaugural winter term, January@Brown. While her classmates were traveling the world and enjoying global cuisine, Daniels said she often found herself seated on one of the faded red cushions of an eerily empty Ratty.
"Usually, the Ratty is packed at all times of the day, but there was almost nobody there," Daniels said. "Can you imagine walking around the Main Green without a person in sight?"
Despite giving up much of her free time to work for January@Brown, Daniels said she was more than happy to spend her break in what she called her "mini-city."
"I'm one of those weird kids at Brown who loves Providence, even though I'm from Chicago, which is obviously a big city," she said.
Daniels said that January@Brown also gave her the opportunity to do things in Providence that she wouldn't normally have done, including salsa dancing and ice-skating.
"I'm really happy that I got to be a part of Brown's first January term," she said.
Few watch State of the UnionAmid all the commotion of planes, trains, automobiles and Ratty trays, one of the biggest political events of the year seemed to slip under the radar of most Brown students. President Bush's seventh State of the Union address - the first ever to feature a woman on the podium, Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi - was delivered yesterday at 9 p.m.
Yet despite the immediate and historical significance of an address that dealt with hot-button issues such as the Iraq troop "surge" and the United States' dependence on foreign oil, few Brown students interviewed by The Herald watched last night's speech. Gupta, Graham, Lambiase, Daniels and other students told The Herald they were not aware of the president's address, and most said they were not interested in watching it anyway.
Public televisions in the Lower Blue Room broadcast Bush's opening remarks to a modest crowd of no more than 15 students, many of whom had their backs to the screens.
But two Brown students kept their eyes glued to their television sets - Tor Tarantola '08 and Zack Drew '07, presidents of the Brown Democrats and College Republicans, respectively. Both students weighed in on the speech and the lack of campus enthusiasm about it.
"President Bush has one of the lowest approval ratings in history," Tarantola said, referring to the most recent Gallup Poll, which put Bush's approval at 36 percent. "You don't have to watch his speech to know what he's doing."
Drew said he felt that students' hostility toward Bush is less credible if they don't watch the president's speeches.
"A lot of people on our campus feel that if you've heard Bush speak once, you know what he'll say every other time," Drew said. "But people can't argue their points against Bush with legitimacy if they don't listen to him speak."
Both Tarantola and Drew said they believe political awareness among students is important, regardless of which party a student supports. They said they plan to discuss the State of the Union address at their groups' next meetings.
As the State of the Union address concluded and the last students arrived after journeys long and short, the campus quieted in anticipation of the start of spring classes.
