My grandfather is a pharmacist in a small pharmacy in an even smaller town in North Carolina. He lives with my grandmother, his wife of 50 years, and their dog Sunny. Naturally, he has endless advice to give – mostly to me.

While I was in high school, he used to tell me, ‘Don’t go out with boys when it’s raining. Rain makes you do crazy things.’

Here in this cold city, we’re no strangers to rain. It doesn’t transform anyone into spontaneous, exotic and/or sensual Nicholas Sparks characters with insatiable sex drives. Whether light, heavy, in the form of frozen ice or freezing snot onto your upper lip, the only ‘crazy’ thing the rain has ever made me do is some questionable, lonely wine drinking past 10 o’clock on a weekday.

So when I turned on The Weather Channel this week and found out that Syracuse would be in the high 70s and mid-80s all week, I saw my chance to prove to my grandfather that in the Northeast, the sun makes us ‘do crazy things.’

It was my time to shine. See what I did there?

Over the past few days, I watched the Quad. I examined interactions between students and saw where those interactions took them. Maybe a bedroom?

I desperately wanted to say: ‘Read ’em and weep, Grandpa.’ But now that the results are in, I can’t lie. No one won.

I discovered that warm weather and sunlight don’t spark sex-driven impulses. Given the opportunity to wear shorts, we do a lot of weird sh*t.

But instead of writing a laundry list of what Syracuse University students do when the sun comes out, I’ve compiled some advice you should all take seriously:

1. Cuddling is a good thing. Cuddling is an endearing physical act that people partake in within the confines of their own home, unless you use:

The Quad

Syracuse University

Syracuse, N.Y. 13210

As your return address, you just shouldn’t be cuddling on the Quad.

2. Ladies, this one is for you. A dog isn’t just a man’s best friend – it’s also a man’s best wingman. Yesterday, a flock of chicks swarmed the area when a puppy stepped within a 100-foot radius of Hendricks Chapel. If you give a guy your number thinking he’ll call you to ‘dog sit,’ he’s referring to another dog that involves a lot more work for a lot less money.

3. Attention all hipsters that carry longboards as accessories: I’m not going to tell you to steer away from the Quad for the next few weeks. But judging by the number of nearly fatal accidents I’ve seen within the past couple of days, I may not have to. Here’s a rhyme to help you remember the importance of being safe:

Keep your boarding heels

On your f***ing boarded wheels.

That’s poetry in motion.

4. You may say I’m a dreamer, but I’m not the only one. At least not on the Quad at 2 p.m. I’ve come across quite a few dreamers this week. If you’re really that tired, you should sleep at home before someone accidentally Quad stomps you while running for a Frisbee. Ouch.

Spring is not just blue skies and temperatures between 70 and 90 degrees. Spring is a feeling that brings people together. In our case, it brings students to the Quad.

Whether you’re an inappropriate cuddler, manipulative dog owner, dangerous longboarder, sleeper or that student trying to avoid eye contact with a Microsoft representative, prove my grandfather wrong by doing something crazy.

Rain not included.

Kara McFarlane is a sophomore television, radio and film major – assuming radio is even a thing anymore – and her column appears every other Thursday. She would like to thank SU Quad sitters, all 6,000 of them. She wishes them all happy sunning. She can be reached at cnmcfarl@syr.edu. Follow her on Twitter at @karanicolemcf.

Published on March 21, 2012 at 12:00 pm