Ball State students who returned to Muncie Sunday after the winter break were greeted by the winter weather they left three weeks ago. Until then, students from across the country experienced different weather, different traffic and unexpected delays.
One such delay came at the nation's airports. Students flying back to Indiana had to experience the Transportation Security Administration's new security guidelines. TSA is responsible for enforcing new legislation that deals with transportation security.
The most recent changes, which went into place Jan. 1, require that all checked baggage be x-rayed . Before Sept. 11, only 5 percent of checked bags were screened for bombs, according to the Associated Press. Since then, the federal government has put 23,000 more screeners in airports to check all bags for explosives.
The new policies worried many travelers who expected the changes to cause delays. Junior Andrew Braley, however, found that his trip from his home in Hawaii back to Muncie took no extra time.
Braley arrived at the airport an hour and a half before his scheduled departure time. He said he was pleasantly surprised, though, when he was completely checked in 15 minutes.
"I have been very fortunate with the security issues both before the new year and after," the 21-year-old said.
Braley said there were no noticeable differences in check-in procedures. Some airports, however, use behind-the-scenes screening. TSA's Web site explains that officials are also authorized to open any suspicious luggage.
Melanie Ritsema, a freshman from Fort Wayne, flew to Pasedena, Calif., to attend the Tournament of Roses Parade on Jan. 1. She said she was not delayed by screenings, but witnessed many passengers who were. Ritsema said the screening was done in the airport's lobby, and many people were taken aside so their bags could be searched.
Ritsema also said the transportation wasn't the only surprise about her trip to Pasedena. The 18-year-old was also surprised that sunny Pasedena
wasn't overly sunny.
"The wind from the ocean made it pretty chilly," she said. "It was in the 60s the whole week."
While 60-degree temperatures may have been cool by California standards, most Indiana natives would have welcomed such temperatures. Hoosier temperatures hovered around the 30-degree mark for most of the break. Most of the state was rocked by a Christmas Eve winter storm, which rendered roads on Christmas Day slippery and dangerous.
Nathan Blank, a sophomore business major, said his southern Indiana hometown of Corydon didn't get much holiday snow.
"When we got together for Christmas, it was raining" Blank said.
Blank said the snow-covered ground he saw on the trip back to Muncie did not surprise him and it didn't cause any delays.
"I made it back in normal time," Blank said.
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