Her Campus Logo Her Campus Logo
placeholder article
placeholder article

My Love-Hate Relationship with Rain Boots

Her Campus Placeholder Avatar Gabby Alleyne
Her Campus Placeholder Avatar Kelsey Damassa
This article is written by a student writer from the Her Campus at BC chapter.

They say that April showers bring May flowers.  Let me be the first to say that enduring those April showers is no fun.  Sporting a noisy, puffy rain jacket to class?  No, thank you.  My hair’s permanent state of dampness?  Not my thing.  Waking up to gloomy, stormy skies?  Doesn’t exactly get me psyched for class.  Wanting to relax in my bed all day to catch up on Girls, yet feeling obligated to trudge through the rain just to sit through my lackluster 9 AM?  Blah.

On any given rainy day, I am in a perpetual state of “blah.”  But what is the one thing that gets me up in the morning when I hear the trickle of raindrops on my window?  My rain boots.  My beloved wellies.  They have stuck by me through rain and snow, sleet and hail.  When I traipse through a puddle, they never let a bit of water touch my warm, dry feet.  Mud?  No problem.  My rain boots look forward to mud.  In fact, it is probably the highlight of their day.  I am not quite sure what I would do without my rain boots.  They are the perfect accessory on any off-weather day.

But sometimes, they let me down.  Like when I slip them on in the morning prepared for rain showers and am met with sunny skies.  Or when they make my feet sweat like I am suffering through the Sahara.  Wellies, my sweet rubber shields, here are the reasons why I love and sometimes hate you.  I hope we can resolve our conflicts over lattes in Hillside before the year’s end.

 

Love ya!

  1. I can jump in puddles.  While my friends have to interrupt their strides to avoid deep puddles, I splash through them like I did when I was five.  Three inches deep?  No problem, bring it on.  I rarely have to worry about where I step when I’ve got my wellies shielding me.
  2. I don’t ruin my good shoes.  My roommate hates her rainboots and refuses to wear them.  When it rains, she has to wear her nicer shoes, thus staining them with water and mud.  My rainboots ensure that my favorite shoes stay dry and clean in my closet where they belong on rainy days.
  3. They come in a myriad of colors.  We’re all familiar with Hunter Rainboots.  The most reputable of brands, Hunter has produced reliable and stylish wellies since 1856.  On any rainy day, you can spot hundreds of BC girls donning their Hunters about campus.  They’re comfortable and come in a huge array of colors.  Hunter even makes sock inserts so that our feet are kept warm if we choose to wear our boots in the snow.  Though they were a pricey purchase, I am so glad that I invested in Hunters.  Don’t like the black, navy, or green classic colors?  Try one of Hunter’s more adventurous shades, like red, orange, yellow, or bright blue.  You will not regret it.
  4. They’re convenient for packing things in.  On their own, rainboots might very well be the most annoying thing to pack.  Ever.  Their shape is inconvenient and they don’t bend like sneakers or flats to fit into your suitcase.  Luckily, you can take advantage of their shape and size by packing things in your wellies.  Socks and underwear are my favorite things to stuff into my boots.  I don’t have to worry about them getting wrinkled and always know where to look for them when I unpack.  So much for underwear getting lost in your suitcase; just look for them in your rainboots!
  5. When they get dirty, it doesn’t take much to wash them.  All it takes is a bit of water and your wellies are good as new.  This is much less expensive and more convenient than leather or suede shoes, which often require a visit to a shoemaker if they get water damage.
  6. They’re an excuse to say the word “wellie.”  When I refer to my rainboots as wellies, people often give me a confused look.  I kindly explain to them that the original name of rainboots is wellies.  They were coined this by Hunter, of course.  The word is adorable and totally makes me feel English and much more hip.  Can’t you just imagine stylish British women strolling about the streets of foggy London complimenting one another’s wellies?  Maybe that’s just me…

Sadly, my wellies are not always just the right thing.  I wish I could say they were, but I would be lying to you. And Her Campus BC is not fond of lies.

Just a little bit of hate…

  1. Wellies, you are impossible to take off.  After a long day of tromping around campus in you, the last thing I want to do is use my last remaining bit of strength to rip you off of my exhausted feet.  However, this is often how I end a day of wellie-wearing.  Why can’t you just slip off like other shoes?  Why must you be so difficult?
  2. My rainboots smell a little weird.  I have accepted that they smell like rubber on the outside, as they would not be rainboots if they weren’t composed of the bouncy material.  I am referring to the inside of my boots.  Maybe it is my feet or maybe it is the boots; maybe it is the convergence of the two.  But after I wear my wellies, they reek.  My feet reek.  Everything reeks.  I suppose this is something that we must accept about our cherished wellies.  They smell and we have to accept that.
  3. They don’t exactly go with my outfit.  Most of us BC girls think about our outfits the night before class.  Without knowing that it is supposed to rain, we often envision adorable ensembles, given the perfect touch by riding boots or flats.  Waking up in the morning and realizing that your perfect outfit will now be completed by rainboots is not the most fantastic of realizations.  Now, we are forced to work our outfits around the boots, thus taking up a chunk of time that we could have spent perfecting our makeup.
  4. I don’t know about you, but wellies chafe on my ankles.  They hit me at exactly the wrong spot.  The first time I wore mine, I had blisters for days on both of my ankles.  Wellie-wearers be warned: wear socks.  Protect your precious ankles.  Your wellies are coming after them.
  5. Driving is not an option when wearing wellies.  The boots are so stiff that bending your foot to press the gas or break is actually a challenge.  Maybe that’s why so many accidents happen when it rains!
  6. Those days when I wear my wellies expecting torrential downpour and am met with sun.  How dare the universe trick me like that.  Now, I am left wearing wellies when I should be wearing flats, my feet are profusely sweating, and I could not feel more stupid.  For those who live on Newton campus, this is particularly frustrating.  As a former Newton resident, I understand the irritation when you wish more than anything that you could magically return home to slip on different shoes.  It’s okay, Newtonians, it’ll be over before you know it.

 

Photo Sources:

http://lovemysisterscloset.com/2012/08/hunter-rain-boots-please/

http://sundaylovexo.onsugar.co…

 

Her Campus Placeholder Avatar
Gabby is a senior at Boston College studying Marketing. She is a writer and a publicity team member for HerCampus BC. On campus, she is a Lead Heath Coach through the Office of Health promotion. She is also the Health and Wellness Coordinator for the Women In Business group. Her interests include nutrition, fitness, peanut butter, and Justin Timberlake. She studied in Sevilla, Spain for the 2014 Spring semester and is excited to return to her beloved Boston to finish off her Bean Town checklist before graduation!
Her Campus Placeholder Avatar
Kelsey Damassa is in her senior year at Boston College, majoring in Communications and English. She is a native of Connecticut and frequents New York City like it is her job. On campus, she is the Campus Correspondent for the Boston College branch of Her Campus. She also teaches group fitness classes at the campus gym (both Spinning and Pump It Up!) and is an avid runner. She has run five half-marathons as well as the Boston Marathon. In her free time, Kelsey loves to bake (cupcakes anyone?), watch Disney movies, exercise, read any kind of novel with a Starbucks latte in hand, and watch endless episodes of "Friends" or "30 Rock."