Imagine a pretty day when you are walking around campus enjoying the nice weather. All of the sudden, the sky gets dark, the sun goes away, wind blows through the Brickyard, and the sky opens up. Of course, you are smart and always carry around an umbrella with you. However, you look down because you are wondering why it feels like you are walking in a lake and realize you don’t have your rain boots on. They are in your dorm, warm and dry, and you are, to put it bluntly, screwed.

Not only are your nice shoes getting ruined, but you are walking very slowly because you fear that, at any moment, you may slip on a brick and fall to your doom. I am sure there are many N.C. State students who will agree our school either needs to make the bricks less slippery or reduce the amount of brick paving on this campus. When it rains, not only are you completely uncomfortable due to your soaking wet socks in your sodden shoes, but you are also in some serious danger. If you don’t get hurt in the process of sliding every which way, you are at least made to look like an utter fool in front of complete strangers, due to your inability to catch your balance on the uneven bricks.

While I love our brick-paved campus, sometimes the bricks cause unnecessary trouble. Whoever decided to make N.C. State an all-brick campus most likely did not take into account that bricks do not absorb water when it rains. After a rainstorm, it takes hours to days for the campus to dry out. While we are waiting, we have to avoid the hundreds of puddles. For those who do not have rain boots or shoes with good traction, walking around campus just after it rains sucks.

The bricks are one reason why class attendance is down when it rains. I would venture to say these students do not want to walk around campus knowing their lives could be at risk. Why end up with soaking wet feet for three or four hours? Why not stay in your dorm and stay dry? You really can’t blame them. Autumn only makes the situation worse; after the leaves fall, days of pouring rain cause you to play hopscotch in order to avoid sliding on a wet patch of leaves.

The University could at least fix the bricks we walk on. There are so many dips in the ground from missing or cracked bricks where puddles can easily form. Sometimes, you are forced to walk right through a puddle.

To be honest, I feel worse for the male students than the female ones. In our society, if a guy were to walk around campus with a pair of rain boots, he would probably get a look or two. Now I do understand there are some forms of rain boots for guys — like duck boots — but I rarely see any guys wearing them. It’s more typical to see girls walking around wearing boots with pretty designs to avoid the rain and any slip that may occur in the process.

Bricks are a staple of our campus, but they can also ruin a person’s day the moment it rains.