Hello guys, gals, and non-binary pals! In today’s blog post, we will be discussing one of my favorite parts of living in Amherst, Massachusetts: the snow. Due to the hot weather this summer, I found myself reminiscing this week about winter days. Growing up in Albuquerque, the times we had some snow were few and far between. Snow days were always one of my favorite parts of winter, and when packing up my stuff to head to college, I knew that seeing my first snowstorm here was definitely something I was looking forward to.
During my first year of college, it snowed heavily in December during the reading period, which is the time during every semester when students have about three days to study for their upcoming final exams or complete any final essays for their classes. I decided to take a break from studying and take a walk in the snow with my friend, Emma. Watching the snow collect on the ground and trying to catch it on my tongue as it fell was so incredible. My hair and Emma’s ended up freezing, and I had to go inside and let myself thaw out for a while. Seeing the clumps of snow that collected on my hair was so fun. Pictured below is an image of my frozen hair and a picture of Emma from that night right after we went inside.
After warming up inside, I met back up with my friends, and we decided to have a snowball fight. It was the first snowball fight I had ever had, and let me tell you; it was one of the most enjoyable things I had ever done. We were screaming at each other, running around, and trying to make the most enormous snowball we could possibly muster. After we decided that we were snow-ball-ed out, we met up with some more friends near Memorial Hill and went sledding together. A friend from Florida had brought some boogie boards from home that worked surprisingly well as sleds. We all took turns flying faster than I could have imagined down the hill, grudgingly taking the slow walk back up. Afterward, we all gathered inside and warmed up with a hot cup of tea.
Between December and March, there have been many snow days similar to this one. Sometimes my friends and I would choose to hunker down inside and have a board game and movie night together during days like these. We would all bring whatever games we had, meet in a common room, and spend the cold day relaxing together. Other times we would join up with other students and work together to build snowmen with them or take turns trying to come up with the fastest sledding technique.
I always loved days like these because I could meet so many people just by going outside. I’ve borrowed sleds from people I had never talked to before and became closer with people I barely knew just by building a snowman with them. It felt so exciting and free to take a break and play in the snow together. Having the opportunity to ditch the responsibilities and pressures of adulthood for one day by playing in the snow is something that I absolutely cherish. I look forward to many more snow days in my coming years at Amherst!