10 Reasons Why Autumn Is Your Lover

It was a TikTok-ridden September morning when the cold crept in. ”Not yet,” I told my roommate (my dad) when he asked if I was running late. The blanket was my sacred shelter, but I’d given my hand to the elements—if only to scroll a little to keep my eyes jogging.

It was only at Lexi’s unashamed barking some two hours later that I got dressed—if only to avoid being caught half-naked in the doorway as I pulled on that biting metal handle—to let her out. She decided promptly that she had changed her mind. I towered over her and she threw guilty glances to the side (as she does) and offered her paw and pleading eyes in hopes of my immediate forgiveness.

Then the meds, bags, headphones, and a Spotify-generated playlist extrapolated from “There’s a Fool Born Every Minute” by Skeeter Davis. My bike seat was covered in a layer of wet that wiped dry in one swipe. I realised then—dancy and dreamy music in my ears—that all the cold, the wet, the light—it was all just enough to sting and prick for my attention, but it never swept my means of comfort out of reach. It was as if the season gently begged to be a part of the morning routine; peering in mindfully—very demure.

The bike ride summoned a sudden glee. A lone brown leaf spiralled down dead centre in my path, landing with a handful of others, and whispered to me: it’s official. I tripped twice climbing stairs, and I swore they’d been raised just a millimetre or two; even the train stations were letting me know that things had changed. And when I looked down to my book on the S-train, a tiny crisp brown leaf fell—from atop my hair—between the pages; the shrivelled autumn cherry on top of it all.

The men on the train smiled and asked if they could sit in one of the three vacant seats next to mine before politely turning to a scrolling of their own. The woman diagonally across from me sat cross-legged chatting britishly across the aisle to two others. There was just enough enthusiasm—or irishness—that had me knowing the only thing missing in the moment was a cup of tea or a pumpkin spice brew.

Still, the looming darkness of the winter months will often begin to feel daunting. Blink-and-you’d-miss-it daylight, the unforgiving cold, and many students’ first term of academic stress. On top of it all, many will have moved into a new apartment just to accommodate for the lectures, exams, and torment to come, including myself.

There’s no better way to kill the seasonal joy—I’ve learned—than to eat, sleep, and grind away in a mostly-empty three-by-three bedroom stacked with cardboard boxes and no clue how to fit everything. It became my mission impossible; to make it the cosiest, most magical three-by-three you’d ever seen. Turns out that the impossibility of the mission was a little less possible than the impossibility I had anticipated, and eventually no amount of delirium could save me from total madness.

You know it’s bad when you find yourself saying, “The main problem with this layout is that half the wardrobe is blocked by the bed’s headboard,” and “No! Actually, the triangular desk here is actually suspended from the ceiling, and I’m going to be sitting right there on the hammock chair above the bed!” It’s important to remember that we all have free will and can walk a psychotic path to our own sense of home—I know I have. Whatever is necessary to carry you through the darkest days of the year, go for it!

I expect y’all to go apple picking, mushroom foraging, and even hiking in Dalby or Söderåsen before all the coloured leaves turn wet, mushy, or shrivel up to nothing. Thrift yourselves some new cosy autumn fits after grabbing bagels. Have some final grand adventures in the overgrown Limhamn quarry or road-trip all the way over to Teleborg Castle. Any excuse to imprison your friends in a boombox on wheels, right? If you’re desperate for that summer feel to last just a little longer, visit the beautiful botanical garden in Copenhagen; the greenhouse is warm and offers entry at a discount for students, and includes the most enchanting butterfly house at the very end.

Before it flies by, autumn would be incomplete without at least once getting soaked in the unrelenting rainstorms on your own terms. Most important of all, though, is that you have that cosy, warm and dry place to return to after checking each autumn bucket list item off the list. Preferably one with a blanket fort and a little projector of questionable quality to sit and watch Coraline or the serene content of Anna Film Productions on; A fort under which you can enjoy your hot beverage of choice, a slice of pumpkin pie, an apple cider donut, or some roasted chestnuts. Throw a not-so-hazardous amount of candles into the mix too!

If you’re into the season’s holidays, why not make some decorations yourself with dry clay, or whip out the yarn you’ve been swearing you’d get to! If you just need to relax, check out the newly released game Tiny Glade; a gorgeous sandbox all about building your dream village, castle, cottage, or grove—the serenity is unmatched.

This is all to say: make sure you give autumn and winter the love they deserve, and make summer jealous before it comes round again. Encourage your friends to join you! Tap into your sense of adventure, engineer a magical place of rest and comfort, and thrive by any mad means necessary.