How we kept warm in the winter: we would borrow lunch trays from the cafetorium when we got a good snow, and sled down the Steps. It was fun, and challenging. Those trays don't offer much of a handhold. That was the winter part -- the keeping warm came from charging back up the steps. That, and snowball fighting and wrestling.

I also liked to go cross-country skiing, just after or during a storm. In the city, that was always a treat -- especially because there would be almost no cars out, and all the other people who were outside were fans of winter and enjoying it. I also skied along the Palisades when I was a student at Lamont-Doherty. The views from those cliffs are stunning.