My first shift of the day started at 9:30 a.m.

Luckily, no one had to sleep overnight because the campout had been suspended because of the cold. The last time I spent the night in the tent it was minus 7 degrees, all the food and water stored in the tent was frozen solid and I was woken up at 6 a.m. by bright camera lights and a reporter asking for a live interview for the morning news.

At first the interviews were great, but after my fifth or sixth one I ran out of answers to the same questions. Am I cold? Yes, I’m outside in sub-zero temperatures, but I’m doing my best to stay warm. Is it worth it? Of course, otherwise I wouldn’t be out here.

The worst part comes when the reporter asks to do a shot from inside your tent. I wouldn’t mind so much if it didn’t mean standing in the cold longer.

It was 8 degrees, so a group of us stood outside our tents and brainstormed sign ideas. Finally, it wasn’t so cold that every group was stuck inside their tents. We did interviews for graduate students, but soon I realized it was colder than I thought and I retreated to my tent. I tried to get work done, but the cold made it hard to type. I hoped using a hand warmer would help, but it didn’t get warm until an hour and a half later when I was sitting in class.

After all my classes, and another day of carrying around a bag with extra socks, pants and a ski mask, I made my way back to the Dome. Everyone was moved inside for the women’s basketball game and although the student section was scarcely filled, it was spirited and everyone stayed to sing the school anthem at game’s end.

After the game we circled up by our tents and listened to music. We were finally allowed to pack up our blankets and sleeping bags and put them inside the Dome for, probably, the last time of this campout.

Someone pitched the idea of wearing blue speedos that read “Beat Duke” on the front for the game. We’ll see.

Published on January 24, 2014 at 9:51 pm

Contact Jon: jrmettus@syr.edu | @jmettus