Rebecca Dance
The shifting seasons are a wonder of the circle of life: the world is dying to be born anew come approximately March. We’re reaching winter: snowflakes, hot drinks, peppermint, and the holiday season. Unfortunately, winter also brings frigid fingertips, frozen breath, and a truly uncomfortable amount of shivering.
I am not a person who enjoys being cold. In fact, I would prefer if the standard weather was sitting nicely at sunny and 75° with frequent swings up into the 80s. I’ve been told that this is ridiculous since it’s so hard to get cold once you’re that warm. The way I see it is that while I might not be able to take off any more layers if I get too hot, at least I’ll be able to feel my extremities. This is absolutely not the case when it’s freezing outside, and the temperature is dropping because of the wind chill. Wind chill in particular is something I hate because it takes what might have been a relatively pleasant day to wear a very heavy sweater and drink copious amounts of hot chocolate to something out of a nightmare. The wind bites through your clothes with the intent to freeze you from the inside out and I can’t stand it. If the air is already cold enough, why does it have to move at high speeds as well? (This is not a rhetorical question. If anyone is able to explain this to me, please do.)
In addition to not liking the cold, I find myself unable to predict what the weather is going to be on a regular basis. I often walk out the front door of my dorm and realize that I am wearing the wrong clothes for the weather of the day. This is especially unfortunate when we consider the mental image of myself trudging to Commons wearing only a long sleeve shirt against early morning temperatures of 26°. I am generally unable to guess what the weather might be throughout the day because the temperature here varies so wildly. I like to people watch first thing in the morning to decide what is appropriate to wear and this is helpful maybe half of the time. People on campus at 8:00 AM are wearing wildly different things- the elderly speed walkers are wearing puffy coats and earmuffs, while the students are wearing things from winter coats and sweaters to those few in shorts and a sweatshirt. They’re wearing such different things that I have no idea what the weather is. Even if I make my way to the stairwell to experience it for myself, I’m proven wrong about halfway through the day when the weather suddenly changes.
In conclusion, I am deeply irritated by the unpredictability of weather, and all this does is reinforce my dislike of the cold.
