“I fell asleep in my closet last night because it was so hot,” said Carlotta Catapano, a student at Exeter Summer who is suffering from the recent heat wave. Summer at Exeter has been heating up, but the worst has hopefully come to an end!
Carlotta lives on the fourth floor of Bancroft facing the sun with no fan. You can understand how she must be feeling! “I didn’t think not having a fan would ever be a problem because I could sleep well, but the temperature has been rising,” she said.” We can assume that most are also experiencing the same feeling.
Staying inside and isolating has been common as well. Carlotta said she finds it more difficult to have the motivation to go outside. “It’s unfortunate because the heat keeps us from spending more time outside: going on walks, and staying on the table outside is not as enjoyable anymore. If we had the possibility of staying out later we would be able to stay in the coolness and spend more time around nature.”
Last week, temperatures at Exeter nudged 100 degrees. There have been many complaints circulating around campus regarding how there is no air conditioning provided for students.
“Trying to pretend [the heat] doesn’t exist but it’s not working.” said Rosie Schrag, a resident of Cilley Hall. “ I wish we had AC in the dorms. The other night I couldn’t sleep because of it and my friends and I always try to find air conditioned places.”
Some students tried to find an escape from this weather and took trips to Boston. Unfortunately, Boston is just as scorching. Alan Tejada complained he was “burning alive” and all the air around him was so hot he felt his “lungs disintegrating”, adding: “I couldn’t stay five minutes outside the AC in Boston. I saw more than 10 people shirtless inside and outside all sweaty, everyone also had sweat stains.”
Amanda Katz had an unfortunate encounter with the heat. She says that due to the hot weather, when she went to the river with some friends she started to get vertigo. “I started to feel dizzy because of the heat so when I got to the grass I laid down, ” she said. “I also probably didn’t drink enough water.” Amanda’s friends called Campus Safety, but couldn’t leave campus, so the ambulance took her pulse and sent her to the Health Center. Fortunately, after a lot of Gatorade and water, Amanda recovered.
It may be hard to believe but while there are many complaints of the heat, Samantha Pressman views the heat in an uplifting way. “There are definitely positive aspects of heat, it forces us to go to the common room and make new friends,” she said. “People go to spacious common rooms because there are several fans.”
Hubabah Saeed of Saudi Arabia tries to be optimistic as well and says: “The humidity is not that bad. Where I live, I walk out the house and I’m already wet.”
Luckily due to the recent downpours, the humidity and heat have died down. “With the rain it helps me cool down and I’m glad the heat is starting to go away,” said Ana Paula Goico. “It’s still very hot, but at least I finally got a good night’s sleep last night.”
Kaitlyn Krinkles is excited for the change in weather as well. She can’t wait until she can wear whatever clothes she wants such as “long sleeves and not only shorts — it’s going to be a lot easier getting dressed in the morning.”