Snow Days

 

Growing up in Southern California, waking up to snow is not something that I ever experienced.  I lacked the classic "snow day" experience as a kid that my friends talk so fondly about.  This past week however allowed me to experience what waking up to snow covered ground and waiting with anticipation for classes to get cancelled felt like.

Whether it stems from the lack of cars on the road or lack of other people walking around, the serenity of walking in cold snowy weather is not something I have ever experienced. Especially as night rolled around, I felt that I was the only person in the city.  This feeling of solitude heightened my senses to what was around me, noticing the crunch of my feet on the icy snow, noticing my ears slowly losing sensation from the cold, and noticing the stars above me a little too well causing me to almost slip on a piece of.

Breaking away from the calming elements that the cold snowy weather provided, it also allowed for slightly more dangerous activities. My friends and I went sledding multiple mornings, finding the best hill and best sledding equipment at our disposal. A small steel baking tray, no bigger than 2ft X 1ft, proved to be the most optimal sled especially when on concrete, with the cardboard signs that they put up everywhere around campus being a close second when on the grass hills. Being outside in the freezing weather, messing around with friends, and missing school finally allowed me to have a better understanding of the "snow days" experience that I missed as a kid.





Comments

  1. williams.dan76February 10, 2026 at 8:05 AM

    Thanks for the blog post and photo. I am glad that you were able to experience a couple snow days. They are pretty rare around here, which makes them all the more special. Up north where winter is colder and snowier, our ice storm would not have canceled classes, but down here it's a major disruption, since no one has snow tires or snow chains and few drivers have experience on icy roads. I like the glimpse of blue sky in your photo--nice framing.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

First Walk

Image
I decided to take my walk after class at the Trinity River.  Although we are lucky enough to have the beautiful campus we do, I walk to and from classes everyday so I felt like it would be valuable to go to a different location and experience the nature there.  The first thing I noticed when I started my walk was the biting wind that had seemed to pick up out of nowhere.  At first I was annoyed at my luck for the poor weather but was quickly distracted by dozens of birds I saw flying above me.  I watched as the birds swayed from the wind, looking as if it took all of their strength to simply not be pushed backwards.  My anger at the wind quickly grew to me realizing how little it effects me compared to the birds, and they still manage it just fine. After continuing to watch the birds for a handful of minutes I continued walking down the trail, noticing all of the leafless trees that surrounded the river.  Despite the leafless look not being as pretty at fir...
Read more

Night Walk

Image
     Over the weekend I felt urged to take advantage of the warm weather we have been having and take a walk outside after the sun had gone down.  I have always marveled at the beauty that night holds, something I feel people do not talk about or realize often enough.  Looking up above you and seeing stars glitter the sky, trying to find the few constellations you know and taking a guess at what phase the moon is currently in is a soothing experience.  Night walks can allow you to be alone with your thoughts, with few cars and people around to distract you.      On the walk I took over the weekend I trekked over to the football stadium, walking up to the highest seats.  From up there the world felt quieter, almost paused in time.  It felt strange how a place usually filled with so much noise and energy could be so quiet and almost sacred at night.        With the stadium lights still blazing, I was struck by...
Read more

Thoughts on Romanticism

Image
      During the outside activity in the presentation yesterday, when we were tasked to take a picture of something that fit the romanticism ideals, I struggled to find something.  As I looked around me all I saw was man-made buildings and structures, which to me is what the Romantic thinkers were trying to prevent.  In my opinion, the main concept of Romanticism is that humans are small and inconsequential compared to the vast power and beauty that nature holds. As a society I believe we have fallen out of Romantic ideology, instead focusing on industrializing and taming the small amount of wilderness that is still left in certain areas.  This was emphasized in a picture I took later that day, showing the massive dorms and dining halls that have been built on campus, rivaling any trees or plant life near it.  And to top this off there are two massive cranes in the background, indicative of the terraforming and massive structures that are underway to...
Read more