Getting out of bed and walking to 8 a.m. class on a cold, January morning can be miserable, but for Abby Doohan, a freshman in the College of Health Sciences, knowing a few shortcuts through warm areas across campus can make a world of difference. Because unfortunately for students at Marquette, the coldest of cold days in the middle of winter do not stop early morning classes nor prevent professors from dishing out homework.
Doohan’s tip identified a commonly overlooked pathway through adjacent science buildings on campus. “I always use the Wehr buildings to cut through things, because they’re all so close together, and there are little walkways between them,” Doohan said. Multiple entryways and sets of double doors that prevent drafting make the structures good places to stop and regain feeling in formerly frozen fingers and toes.
However, cutting through buildings is sometimes less of a shortcut and more of an extra detour. Doohan typically prefers to just take the most direct routes, rather than going out of her way to stay warm. “I don’t really plan out those kinds of things, and I tend to leave at the last possible second, so I don’t really have time to go out of my way,” she said.
It’s an easy comment for a student living in a residence hall just a few minutes away to make. But especially for upperclassmen living blocks from their academic or extracurricular buildings, planning out routes that take them through extra buildings can be essential.
Liam O’Donoghue, a junior in the College of Arts & Sciences, finds that as a student living off campus, there are days when he needs to change his route to avoid a long walk in the cold.
“If I’m walking from somewhere like Straz or further, I always make sure when I’m coming back to take the shortcut through Schroeder and then to the AMU because it blocks the wind,” O’Donoghue said. “I hate walking down Wisconsin … it just gets so cold.” With buildings lining the main Marquette thoroughfare and creating what can feel like a wind tunnel, it’s always a good idea to try to avoid direct walks into the wind when traveling on Wisconsin Avenue.
Yet treks down Wisconsin cannot always be avoided. Ellie Kohner, a junior in the College of Nursing, who lives off of 16th Street and Kilbourn Avenue and is a director of residence at Straz Tower, regularly faces long wintertime walks to and from her job. Echoing the thoughts of O’Donoghue, she expressed that walking through the Alumni Memorial Union is indeed essential if she hopes to stay warm.
“When I walk to Straz, a lot of times I’ll walk through the AMU because it’s warm, or stop there on my way home,” Kohner said. “Also, if I’m going to be early to class, sometimes I’ll stop in a closer building, like break my walk up into two parts because I live kind of far off campus.”
Students can often be seen with the same idea as Kohner, standing in warm entryways such as the one found in Raynor as they burn a few minutes (but not body heat) between classes. With Marquette’s urban campus featuring neighboring buildings in all directions, there are many places capable of being sanctuaries for warmth on a cold day.
For those looking to stay snug in the dead of winter, keep in mind the open buildings easy to cut through, or plan to stop through warm buildings, especially those serving as locations for the Brew Cafes for a much-needed hot coffee. And as always, the LIMOS take students all over campus after 5:00 p.m. With the correctly planned routes, there is no need to freeze on the way to class this winter.
