If you haven’t noticed by now, Ithaca is a pretty miserable place during the winter. Jack Frost may have given us a break so far this year, but there is nothing better than leaving the frozen landscape that is the South Hill for, well, anywhere.

But while most students get a generous month off from the Ithaca winter, there’s a small group that isn’t so lucky. Start with the women’s basketball team. Last year, half the team had to spend its New Year’s on a bus on the way back from a game at Bowdoin.

If you think that’s rough, this year the Bombers have a whopping five days of break. Junior Erika Steele said that while the short break was jarring her freshman year, she’s used to it by now.

“It’s a totally different atmosphere and the only people you see are your teammates and coaches,” she said. “But the other girls are my saving grace. It’s like I have two families, the one back home and the team.”

There’s a divorced parent joke there somewhere, but Steele isn’t alone in her sentiment. With no classes and, quite frankly, not much of anything else to do, players can focus solely on improving their skills and team chemistry.

Enter “team bonding,” a word commonly used when talking about the days and weeks before classes begin. Senior Angela Affronti from the women’s track and field team has never come back early, but as a team leader this year, she’s made the commitment.

“This year I’m a captain and want to set a good impression,” she said. “I felt left out because I couldn’t make it back early other years for the team bonding.”

The women on the track and field team get to know each other over pasta dinners. The women’s basketball team goes to the movies and, last year, to a Syracuse basketball game.

Senior wrestler Justin Dwork said that he and his fellow wrestlers spend their time playing bowling or playing poker.

It may come as a surprise, too, that Dwork actually chose to cut his vacation short in previous years because he wanted to come back and train.

“I wanted to stay sharp and in shape,” he said. “I wanted to get better. Most of the people I see during the year are wrestlers anyway.”

There’s no denying that many of us like our breaks the way they are and not an hour, minute or second shorter. That’s also why most of us can’t make, let alone understand, the sacrifices our athletes make. To each their own.

Happy holidays.