<p>Yeah it totally is inconsistent. The two party system is so flawed, there should be way more parties. I’m actually from southern california, so a huge difference (it’s usually 60-70 degrees in the winter). But I’m excited about snow and actual seasons - and that sounds good about the warm rooms, lol.</p>
<p>Brown doesn’t have much in the line of “actual seasons” in the sense of 4 of them. Typically, it’s cold and wet and then suddenly it’s almost summer. Snow is nice at first, but often, it gets old after awhile once you have to trek through snow to get to classes.</p>
<p>Keep in mind that my room experience is not typical. Apparently a lot of rooms are cold. It’s really just luck (additionally, I’m used to parents who set the temperature in the house to 62 in the winter, so 70 may feel too warm to me).</p>
<p>I disagree. There’s a pretty clear fall, winter, and spring. Think about the fact that it was 80 every day when you got here in August/September, then mostly in the high 50s or 60s for a few months, 20s 30s and 40s now, and at least 70-75 by the time you leave.</p>
<p>There’s not what a lot of people consider spring, from what I’ve heard from others. I suppose what I meant was that the duration of this “spring” is very short compared to “normal.” Certainly, you and I are accustomed to this (though for me, the change from winter to spring to summer is smaller because Providence winters are mild compared to where I live), but a lot of people are not. Of course, the perception changes based on where you come from, it seems. Spring’s too long for me as it is because of my allergies; it may be a refreshing (albeit perhaps shorter than expected) change for OP, though I think the dichotomy of winter and summer would be the biggest change.</p>
<p>You probably think Spring is short because you leave Providence in May.</p>
<p>But I leave to go about 50 miles north. Once it hits 70 degrees, I don’t really see it as spring. I guess that’s the difference.</p>
<p>I usually don’t count summer as being until it hits 85+ (at least in KS), and that’s a cool day. 70 is very cool compared to 105.</p>
<p>That’s definitely the difference in my view, then. My comfort range is 55-65 degrees, which generally occurs for maybe a month in the year. There will be places with a more distinctive set of 4 seasons, but Providence will probably be enough for OP to get a feel for it.</p>
<p>I’m not there yet (class of 2014!) but the impression that I’ve gotten is that the student body is generally intolerant of social conservatism, not economic conservatism. So, you should be fine :)</p>
<p>The weather was KILLING me – I’m glad it’s finally returning back to normal! I live in GA, so the winters are usually high 50s, but the past couple of weeks have been averaging a low in the teens and a high in the mid 30s. I guess I’ll have to get used to the weather, lol. I was actually late to school last week because there was ice on my windshield in the morning and I had no clue how to get it off, haha.</p>
<p>There are some individuals on campus who are definitely very strongly liberal and they are <em>very loud</em>. This gives the impression that they are our campus. But no, they’re just <em>very loud</em>. I’m a moderate and they annoy me, but I don’t really interact with them much so it’s all good. In comparing notes with friends who attend other universities(my state school, Harvard, MIT, CalTech, Stanford, etc.), we’re actually not much more liberal in terms of political beliefs. A lot of such universities slant liberal. But, you’ll find a wide spread of beliefs here, it’s just not something that a lot of people are very vocal about(minus those at the very loud extremes) when you first meet them. </p>
<p>No, Brown doesn’t eat those with conservative political beliefs up. </p>
<p>However, there is definitely an atmosphere of the idea of acceptance of those who maybe are not accepted by some(though not all) conservatives—homosexuals, transsexuals, those who aren’t sure, etc. Derogatory comments towards those individuals is a quick way to become very unpopular.</p>
<p>Justbreathe has it: I’m, in a few things, a social conservative (I hold Catholic views). But I’ve never once seen this as a problem: people usually understand where I’m coming from, and I’m of the school of thought that it’s more important to love people and have them know you’re there for them than it is to challenge their right to make their own life choices, and condemning is not up to me. And from what I’ve found, the Brown community is very quick to come to the defense of anyone who’s under attack because they’re “different.”</p>
<p>My stances on some things (abortion, marriage, sex) are definitely in the minority, but it’s a source of discussion, not attack.</p>