If there is one thing I have learned in my four years at Penn State, it's to bring an extra amount of clothing with me to class.

Temperature settings in classrooms here have always been a mystery to me.

Even with my existing circulation problem, I normally can figure out how warm to dress for outside, but I am constantly lugging around an extra sweatshirt in order to accommodate for what seems to be a lack of heat adjustment in classroom buildings.

This hot and cold concern came to me when I was in my sophomore year. It was my first experience with the older section of the Willard Building.

Now as many of you know not only in the winter, but spring as well, the heat that billows into those rooms can be unbearable.

Feverishly sweating, I decided to try and get a drink of water, hoping for some coolness to overcome my skin once more.

An hour and 15 minutes later, I became free from heat exhaustion only to find myself in my next class with the air conditioner blasting directly onto my still-sweating limbs.

Here is where I ran into some problems.

Because the weather outside had allowed me to function with a sweater as my coat, there was nothing else I could add to myself in order to get over this freezing madness.

It was then I realized how diverting these temperatures can be.

How are we supposed to pay attention when there is sweat running down our face, or when we can't write with our numbed hands?

It's hard enough to be alert in class when most attendants are sleep deprived anyways.

And what about getting sick?

With a limited amount of flu vaccinations in our country this year, the probability of contracting some type of the flu is even more prominent.

Rotating from a roasting hot classroom to one that still has the air conditioning running from summer only furthers this constant temperature change.

Nothing like asking to get sick.

Let's look at some facts.

It is well known that going frequently from one end of the Fahrenheit scale to the exact opposite can cause your body to be prone to illness.

Sudden changes in temperature from one area to the next can cause unfavorable results.

Coughing, sneezing, sniffling, and fatigue are all signs of the flu that come with this variation.

There's nothing worse than trying to have your brain function as much as possible, while the cloudiness of the flu starts to take over. An infection makes you run down. It's not a good asset in college.

Missing classes and meetings can put a student so far behind in college that they will spend the rest of the semester trying to catch up all because they contracted the flu for a week.

It's not like in high school when we used to want to get sick just to miss some classes.

That's not possible here.

Sometimes there are things that are done to try and provide the optimal learning environment, but it only goes so far.

A professor can open the door, but that only goes so far when you are in a 300-person class in the Forum. And I have even had the pleasure of having below-freezing winds whirl into the room when a door is opened, forcing me to strap on my scarf and gloves while I try to write.

Classrooms are not the only cause of disease, but they can contribute.

Already living in close quarters with two or three other people allows your body to easily develop any sort of virus your roommates can spread.

You don't need the extra boost from class temperatures to further prohibit any chance you had of getting over a mild bug. Ventilation is the key component of these steaming buildings.

However, our campus consists of too many buildings to make it feasible or likely that this ventilation obstacle can be fixed.

So for my personal prevention of illness from classrooms, I tend to carry around my own extra luggage because I can't afford to get sick.