Dylan Miller, a college senior, has built a hut for himself in the woods, after living for around a year in a sturdy-yet-rudimentary shelter. People may think that he had done so while looking forward to springtime.

But the truth is that the soon-to-be college graduate has spent the past 10 months of his senior year living off campus.

He really didn't mind eating, studying and sleeping in winter's chill, even during the times when his exclusive experiment was threatened by freezing temperatures.

Miller, a student at central Pennsylvania's Juniata College, said, “It's a lot like jumping into a cold lake, and after a minute you're used to it and you're swimming around happily. I just wore shorts all winter because my body was so well acclimated”.

Miller decided to live like Thoreau, for his senior research project on simple living. He didn’t just read his work, but followed it. The title of Miller’s project was ‘Content with Nothing’, and it carried a double meaning.

Miller, 22, of Meadville, Last summer, constructed a 17-by-17 hut from fallen timber. He used leaves as insulation and a tarp for a roof.

Miller, happily trading climate control, indoor plumbing and electricity for the solitude of the woods, lugged the essentials up a steep trail. Whereas, his classmates settled into their dorm rooms and furnished their apartments.

For months, he studied by candlelight, drank tea and kept an eye on the occasional bear. He did so to test a notion that a person can live with less and still find satisfaction.

Miller’s academic adviser Will Dickey, an assistant professor of English at the small liberal arts school, said that Miller wanted to see how he could live minimally, still maintaining a lifestyle that is followed in the contemporary world.