Around 8 p.m. last Tuesday, Duke students received a text message stating that morning classes the following day had been cancelled due to the incoming snow. Twelve hours later, while students were catching up on some much-needed sleep, the rest of Wednesday classes were cancelled. Students awoke to some very good news and proceeded to bundle up and go play in the gothic winter wonderland
Snowballs were thrown, many figures were constructed, and those from warmer climates learned just what all this snow business was about. If the snow wasn’t for you, you could have stayed inside and worked through Larry Moneta’s (affectionally known as “L.Mo”) Netflix recommendations, which included Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, Black Mirror, and Peaky Blinders. An estimated eight inches of snow fell and students took full advantage of it. A mini snow Chapel was built among a sea of snowmen and women, but the most photographed snow sculpture was much more simplistic: a giant snowball in the arch before the Crown Plaza bridge.
Early that evening, while some students continued to enjoy the gothic winter wonderland and others warmed up in their dorms, another email arrived with the news that Thursday would also be a snow day free of responsibilities. Facebook and Instagram were flooded with pictures of and in the snow, so much so that someone commented on it on the Duke Memes for Gothicc Teens page.
Thursday morning, groundskeepers tried to move the giant snowball that had taken social media by storm. It proved too strong for them, however, and they left it alone. Friday afternoon, they finally managed to move the giant snowball a few feet so it was no longer blocking the way to the Crown Commons bridge. As of the writing of this article, the giant snowball is still going strong, although the crack down it’s middle seems to suggest it might split very soon.
Many students were expecting Friday to also be declared a snow day, but alas, it was not meant to be. Friday classes before 10 a.m. were cancelled, but then it was back to business as usual. Those two and half snow days were a much needed break for us students, but we must remember to thank all the people that made our snow days safe and fun.