With the season changing last Sunday, fall is officially upon us here in Grand Forks. The signs are everywhere: the leaves falling and changing colors all over campus, October is just a week away and of course, no more sweating it out in the hot and humid classrooms.

Fall has always been my favorite time of the year. There is just something about the crispness in the air and the fall scenery but it is also a time for new sports seasons. Although the football season started almost a month ago already, it seems like it is the sport that dominates all of the fall season.

And of course my favorite of all, hockey season is less than two weeks away. For a lot of colleges, hockey season is not something they always get excited about, but here at UND it is what we are. I can’t wait to be back in The Ralph in a couple of weeks, cheering on the team with thousands of other students and fans. There is nothing like the electricity in that arena after the home team scores a goal.

But, there are other things of course that go along with fall as well. Even though it seems like we just started school last week, it is almost the end of September. October usually seems like the longest month of school in the entire year, but Halloween will be here sooner rather than later. Although we are not young kids anymore and we don’t go out trick-or-treating (or most of us don’t), it is still fun to dress up and pretend (or actually) be scared with the haunted houses and endless parade of horror movies.

In Grand Forks though, fall usually means more than just a little cooler weather. It may be just the end of September, but it is time to start preparing for what seems to be endless winters in North Dakota. And I don’t know about you, but I’m not quite ready for that yet!