For living in such a sunny, dry, and essentially weatherless place, students in Claremont have some strong feelings about rain. As it’s rained (at least a little each day) for the last three or four days, it seems only right to curl up next to the unneccessary-for-360-days-of-the-year fireplace in the Smith Campus Center and muse about the gloomy gray weather.
As it’s rained for maybe 15 collective days in my one-and-a-half years here, I can’t say I’m used to seeing Pomona’s campus in the rain. The palm trees look misplaced, outdoor posters become washes of damp marker and paint, and the nighttime sprinklers continue to run. My friends look slightly out of place, uncomfortable in their long pants and long sleeves, trying to balance usually sunny, dry Claremont with this bout of inclement weather.
As a Northwesterner, I enjoy the rain. It reminds me of home, where this type of weather is the norm and sunny days are the exception. I have an excuse to drink hot beverages and knit and wear multiple sweaters and sit by the aforementioned mostly-unnecessary fireplace. It almost feels like winter, except that it’s 60 degrees out.
Some students are right there with me, busting out the rainboots and jackets, speaking nostalgically and hopefully about the possibility of “real weather.” Other students dislike the rain, complaining that it makes going to class up at Harvey Mudd inconvenient or sports practices unpleasant. It’s true; this campus was not designed for rain. Other students, still, grumble about the weather, often accompanied by some version of the phrase, “You call this rain?! You think this is cold?! Try living in [insert whatever cold and and clearly thunderstorm-superior place they come from]!”
No matter what, the rare event of rain in Claremont makes people change their schedules, attitudes, or at the very least, their clothes. For me, it’s a refreshing change, lending campus an entirely different feel if only for a few days.