Students cope with rainy days in L.A.

Rain, rain go away! Days of rainy weather have sunny Los Angeles looking for ways to cope with the dreary weather. Anthony Slade talked to USC students about how they’ve been facing the bizarre storms.

The sun shined down on students gathered in front of the Tutor Center today, as they celebrated what seemed like their first moment out of the rain in days. The weather has been the subject of a campus-wide lament, with students sharing their stories of lonely nights, skipped classes and stolen umbrellas.

Some students, like Marshall graduate student Sumedh Deshprabhu, are struggling to find motivation on these raining days.

DESHPRABHU: It just gets too cozy, so it’s hard to get out of the bed.

Others, like freshman computer science major Ronit Avalani, have had to change plans as a result of the less-than-favorable weather.

AVALANI: I know my friends were planning on going out on a Friday night, but instead we stayed in and did like a karaoke night. And so it ended up we still had a plan.

As of last week, Downtown L.A.’s cumulative rainfall rose above its 14.25 inch average for an entire rain season -- which isn’t over until the end of June. These unusually high numbers come at a time when Trojans seem least prepared.

Meona Khetrapal, a sophomore majoring in computational linguistics, has been weathering the storm without an umbrella.

KHETRAPAL: I don’t own an umbrella, but I have a rain jacket, which kind of probably is the problem.

Deshprabhu also has been going through this month without the luxury of an umbrella

DESHPRABHU: I did not get an umbrella back when I boarded the flight to the United States because because of the luggage restrictions. And I a lot of people, you know, they call it sunny California. I don’t know where it is right now.

Deepali Yedulapuram, a sophomore cognitive science major, was born and raised an San Diego. She claims she’s never owned an umbrella -- until this week

YEDULAPURAM: You asked me that because yesterday I was walking with two friends and there was, like, an umbrella, and it was just left there, and I took it.

Interestingly enough, another student, Katherine Arnold, who is double majoring in business and biology, tells a similar tale.

ARNOLD: Friday night and it was pouring rain. And I got to my sorority house and I put my umbrella in the bucket at the front door. And then about an hour later, I went to leave. And the bucket was not the bucket. The umbrella was no longer there. I don’t think it was a malicious stealing of an umbrella. I think that all black umbrellas look exactly the same and somebody just took it. But now I’m umbrella-less.

This smattering of umbrellaless students may be the cause for what seems like a trend in class attendance ... or lack thereof.

Shubhangi Sharma. a grad student studying business analytics, took a hit yesterday due to the rain.

SHARMA: Yesterday as as it was raining yesterday, the whole day I had two classes yesterday. I didn’t go to a single one.

Other students, like Yedulapuram, have braved the storm and made it to class -- until today.

YEDULAPURAM: I am going to class. Haven’t skipped any either, except I did today, which is weird because it’s sunny.

When asked where she found the motivation to get to class, Rohatgi had this to say.

ROHATGI: Failure. Like, if I do my class on Zoom, I will sleep like there is no doubt about it. So I think just to focus, I have to go to class, otherwise it won’t work.

Avalani, who made it to class without an umbrella, shared his thoughts on the matter.

AVALANI: No, I think umbrellas are for the weak.

Don’t let today’s sunshine fool you. The forecast for this week shows more showers.

For Annenberg Media, I’m Anthony Slade

Karishma Rohatgi

Sophomore Biomed major (she/her)

Speaker 1: [00:00:47] And how do you find the motivation to go to class at a time where it’s raining so much? [00:00:50][3.7]

Speaker 2: [00:00:51] Um, failure. Like if I do my class on Zoom, I will sleep like there is no doubt about it. So I think just to focus, I have to go to class, otherwise it won’t work. Yeah. [00:01:05][13.6]

[17.3]

Speaker 1: [00:01:47] what do you have to say to fellow students who kind of can’t find that motivation to go to class on days where it’s raining? [00:01:53][6.0]

Speaker 2: [00:01:54] Don’t fail. You can’t be failing school. [00:01:57][2.4]

[8.3]

Speaker 2: [00:01:09] I do. I want an umbrella. But it doesn’t work anymore because the wind, like, flipped it over if that. Do you know, like what I mean. Yeah [00:01:17][8.6]

Sumedh Deshprabhu

Grad In Business (he/him)

Speaker 2: [00:01:06] I’ve been missing like a couple of couple or three times in a week, so. Yeah. [00:01:11][4.3]

Speaker 1: [00:01:12] And how does that make you feel? [00:01:12][0.8]

Speaker 2: [00:01:13] Pathetic. Like my day by day is parted. I think my day is completely without energy and lousy. I think. [00:01:21][7.7]

[12.7]

Speaker 2: [00:01:38] And I wanted to go on a road trip and few days, so I’m not really sure whether that would be possible or not. So that’s the concern I have. [00:01:46][8.4]

Ronit Avalani

Freshman CompSci (he/him)

Speaker 2: [00:00:46] Yes, but I do not think it is because of the rain. I think it’s because I skipped classes. Normally [00:00:54][7.9]

Speaker 2: [00:02:00] No, I think umbrellas are for the week a heartache. And then I also think that it’s just embarrassing to have wind. And then your umbrella, just like Mary Poppins, are like, fold upwards, and then you’re just, like, collecting rain. I’m like, Do you really want to be that person? You can survive with the hood. It’s not a big deal [00:02:23][22.9]

Meona Khetrapal

Computional Linguistics Soph (she/her)

Speaker 2: [00:00:34] yesterday, I like, skipped till my glasses and went home and I took everything online and I just read my book and yeah, I literally just stayed in. And so I because I didn’t feel like doing anything, like walking around in the rain. [00:00:48][13.4]

Speaker 2: [00:01:40] I’m not going to buy an umbrella, that’s for sure. [00:01:44][4.3]

Shauba

Katherine Arnold

Business and biology junior (she/her)

Speaker 1: [00:01:17] I tried to be on campus as little as possible now that it’s raining, but I live like a 30 minute walk from where most of my classes are in the business building. So it’s kind of annoying because if I leave and then it starts raining, I can’t do anything about it. [00:01:31][13.8]

Speaker 1: [00:02:07] I have not skipped any classes because of the rain, which is very uncharacteristic. I’ve actually been going to more classes because of the rain or not because of the rain. But in the past week I have been going to more classes than I normally do. So I am a very committed and tenacious student. [00:02:23][15.2]