A Narnian Winter
New England winter is secretly a teenage girl who knows how to throw some serious temper(ature) tantrums. She sure knows how to blow hot and cold! One day it’s literally over 60 degrees and you’re casually going about your affairs in a tank top and sneakers. The next thing you know, snow apocalypse has struck and you’ve suddenly lost all motivation to participate in life.
Winter has always been my least favorite season while growing up. The temperature has also never dropped below 60 degrees. Yes, that’s the definition of winter in my country. For seventeen years, I thought that was cold. Boy oh boy. Was I wrong!
In fact last weekend, me and my friends were collectively praying for a snow day. Call it an unfortunate coincidence, but it always snows on the weekends. When I woke up on Monday morning, EVERYTHING was covered in snow. I was two- hundred percent sure that my roommate and I wouldn’t have to attend our morning classes. To my dismay, however, only her class got cancelled.
Tragic, right? I had to trudge through the snow and go to class. My professor wasn’t even present! We had a substitute professor that day. On the way back, I was determined to skip breakfast (class ended at 9:20am), so that I could return to my dorm and snuggle under my blanket for the rest of the day. As soon as I descended down the hill, my complaining stomach (howling at this point) and cold feet dragged me into the dining hall.
Super cold days are generally crappy. However, I’d be lying if I said it was a hundred percent awful. For one thing, the view from the Tisch Library roof is surreal! Looking at Boston’s distant skyline over the snow covered buildings is strangely relaxing. I have seen people standing there, gazing at the scenery happily even in this bitter cold. Also, winter sunsets are absolutely breathtaking. There is no better way to end the day than by looking at the purple sky tinged with pink, while sipping hot chocolate.
I feel that our collective struggles invariably bring us together. When people moan and despair over their work loads, colds and reluctance to walk to their classes, someone is surely heard to be saying, “It’s going to be okay. You can do this. I believe in you!”
When the temperature drops to a negative and you can’t feel your nose, stepping out of the dorm becomes increasingly difficult. But surrendering your social life can also be a good thing at times. People gather their friends to go on a field trip to a nearby grocery store in Teele Square to stock up for the weekend. Ordering food and cry over how lucky the delivery guy is to have a seat warmer is also a great bonding experience. It’s always fun to share these meals and get comfortable in a cuddle puddle to watch Disney movies like Enchanted, which actually makes fun of Disney BTW.
People also find themselves giving and receiving more compliments:
Your beanie is so cute!
I love your boots!
Where did you buy that from? We should totally go shopping sometime and get a meal after.
The snow and the cold gives everyone an excuse to pull out their army of socks and scarf collections, because let’s be real- if you didn’t make a fashion statement, did winter really happen?