I was born and raised in the beautiful land that is California’s Bay Area. The Bay Area has many wonderful things, including (but definitely not limited to): an abundance of wildlife (not just squirrels), kale available at every restaurant, and casually-dressed engineers. All of those things are great, but what the Bay Area has that I’ve discovered is unique to California is the absence of winter.
When I tell people I’m from California, the first thing people say to me (besides “then how are you so pale?”) is “Oh, I’ve always wanted to visit!” To which I promptly respond “You should! You should come in January and February; those are my favorite months. It’s beautiful that time of year.”
Well, those used to be my favorite months. But now, as I adjust to college life on the East Coast, I find myself cursing the winter months and all that comes with them. The funny thing is, when people would ask me if I was ready for the cold, I would scoff and say that it couldn’t be that bad. Well, I take it back. I was not ready. I am still not ready. I think part of the problem is that I really didn’t know what to expect. All I kept hearing was “It gets really cold.” So I was kind of prepared for that. But it being cold is only about 1/10 of the problem.
Here is a list of things about winter in Boston that no one warned me about:
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Snow is really bright. The first day it snowed I walked outside and immediately covered my eyes. It’s honestly painful to look at clean piles of snow.
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Slush. The sadder younger sibling of snow. While snow has its fun perks, I cannot seem to think of one perk of the grayish brown sludge that covers the paths.
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Salt residue. My shoes and floors are now completely coated in salt. While I understand salt is imperative to get snow to melt, can’t we think of something that doesn’t leave behind a gross trail? No? Okay then.
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Weather reports lie. If it is technically 17 degrees but it feels like negative 35, can’t we call a spade a spade and agree that is is negative thirty five degrees outside? Not like that would make it any better, but at least we could be honest with ourselves.
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You have to watch where you are going at all times. Everytime I am walking from point A to point B, I keep my eyes on the ground 100% of the time. I am in constant fear of slipping or stepping in gross snow. Having my head down all the time is not conducive to me being able to greet friends as I walk through the yard.
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That icicle could fall on your head and you could die! You can DIE from the winter!
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Puddles! If at any point the snow melts at all, any stretch of street that is sloped down creates huge, huge puddles. They are no fun.
Hopefully I have reached some Californian high schoolers who are planning to head East for college. Now you don’t have to be as unprepared as I was! Much love.