Corey Landis watches the Quad from a slightly elevated position. Nestled high in a tree near Link Hall, he balances his backpack and a variety of textbooks and notebooks in his bark-laden study spot.

“It’s my favorite spot to be outside on campus,” said Landis, a junior biomedical engineering major. He laughed, indicating the trunk supporting him, and said, “It has a nice backing to it.”

April in Syracuse is not often a beacon of springtime. Snowy whiteouts plagued the beginning of the month, and students ambled around campus with limbs tucked beneath layers of peacoats, ski jackets and scarves.

But on Monday, people bared their pale skin to the sun, gathering on the Quad and socializing in groups of all sizes.

Landis enjoys people-watching while he’s on the Quad, taking special joy in the surprise reactions he receives whenever people notice his nearly hidden lair.

On this particular day, Landis is studying for a quantitative physiology test, as well as neuroscience and electrical engineering. But normally, he prefers to use the tree for leisurely reading — a copy of Kurt Vonnegut’s “Breakfast of Champions” lies dormant in his backpack for when he finishes his studies.

Despite its high-profile location on the Quad, Landis’ coveted spot doesn’t have much competition, he said.

“I don’t think most people think of sitting in a tree as an option,” he said. “When you’ve got all of these benches, they don’t think of it as a thing.”

He saw another person sitting in the same tree once before, and admitted lightheartedly to feeling some disappointment at having to relocate.

But as far as the weather goes, Landis said he feels like this is a vastly exciting progression, due mostly to the juxtaposition between the weather in Syracuse.

“It’s a big deal,” he said. “When you come from last week, where it was snowing sideways, to this.”

For others on the Quad, the weather provides a catalyst for a more social experience. Groups congregate together on the grass, lounging around with backpacks slung on the ground and laptops perched on laps, oftentimes playing music.

“I always feel bad for the people who come do their accepted students tours on the first day that it’s nice out,” said Jake Mainville, a senior biology major.

Mainville sat with a group of friends mainly from the student-run theater group First Year Players, talking together about 30 yards in front of Hendricks Chapel. The group brought a neon green football for tossing, but had cast it aside in lieu of spending some time together.

For Mainville and his friends, the Quad was the greatest way to spend a fair weather day on campus — while they didn’t necessarily plan for it, or bring many things with them to class, they could take pleasure in just being outside.

Closer to Carnegie Hall, another group of Quad-goers took a more active approach to spending a day in the sun. Three women and two men kicked a soccer ball around with no clear intention of starting a game, but rather to perform flashy tricks.

Vivian Gomez, a sophomore biology major among the group, kicked the ball in the air like a Hacky Sack, bouncing it off of her bright orange Adidas cleats.

Gomez thinks the soccer ball adds an extra social element to Quad life.

“As soon as you bring a ball, people start coming,” Gomez said with a laugh. “I had the ball and people are like ‘Oh, pass it!’”

On the exact opposite diagonal of the soccer players, the classic Quad scene was unfolding: a picnic — complete with decorative blanket and Chipotle meal — held by Taylor O’Brien and Kim Powell, a sophomore political science and sophomore art and video major, respectively.

“Everyone just seems more communal,” Powell said, looking around. “I get to see more people. I run into people.”

Powell and O’Brien were joined by their friend Jisu Pang, a junior information studies major, also toting Chipotle.

Pang had her laptop out, playing a playlist from a friend’s birthday that featured “Tipsy” by J-Kwon.

The group heard rain was to be expected for the rest of the week, but was happy to take advantage of the nice weather for the moment.

Said O’Brien: “I hope it stays this way.”

Published on April 9, 2013 at 1:51 am

Contact Chelsea: cedebais@syr.edu | @CDeBaise124