Seeing as all everybody is talking about lately is this lovely South Bend weather, I thought it fittiing to write about it as well. Last year was the first time I had ever seen snow before. The coldest temperature I had experienced back in Puerto Rico was probably 68 degrees, which I now consider to be the perfect temperature. Since I had never seen snow I was obviously as excited as a little kid. While all of my friends were complaining about the cold on our way to the dining hall, I would be purposely waking through the snow and running around instead of using our perfectly plowed sidewalks. I think I made a snow angel every two days and begged my best friend to have a snowball fight with me until she finally gave in.
Then week 2 arrived…I was not a happy camper. The sidewalks weren’t plowed in the morning so the walk to class was more like a trudge through several inches of snow, no matter what direction I was walking in the snow always seemed to be pelting me in the face, and after a few days of just sitting there everything would look brownish and slushy instead of the beautiful layer of white I was in love with the week before. I still thought the snow looked beautiful when it was falling but I preferred to watch from the comfort of my room with a blanket over me and the TV on, not outside on the way to DeBart.
Perfectly plowed
It was a little unbelievable that there was still snow on the ground all the way through April, but when I got back to campus in August I had completely forgotten all about how terrible the weather here actually is (Okay, I believe “blocked out of my mind” is a better way to describe it). But, as usual snowfall arrived yet again, much earlier than it had last year. And yet again I was in love with it all once more. I would walk through it, lay in it, make snow angels, and just admire how lovely everything looked. I distinctly remember coming back from Reckers late one night during finals week last semester and thinking how peaceful everything seemed. There were hardly any people around and fresh snow had fallen a few hours earlier. Everything was silent and the air felt cold, but something about it felt like home (I realize I just quoted Taylor Swift lyrics, but it’s from one of my favorite songs so I had to go with it). Anyways, I remember thinking that nothing could be more beautiful and as I neared my dorm I saw this spot that looked really fluffy and being the weirdo that I am I decided to lay in the snow and look at the stars, not that I could see any due to the ever-present permacloud.
Now that I survived windchills of -30, I can’t say I’m feeling the same admiration for the snow that I did during December. It has become slushy and gross and frankly I’m tired of having to wear my snow boots every day, but I’m sure that when the next big snowfall rolls around and covers everything with a perfect layer of white, I will fall in love with it all over again. I’m also still hoping that one of my friends will agree to build a snowman with me….
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Photos provided by author