First-Year Student Journals : Katie : Journal 10

Top Five Things to Do in the Snow

Make and throw snowballs.

Slide down hills on the snow (sled, slide on your behind, fall gracefully, whatever makes you happy).

Build a snowman.

Build a large wall and fort of ice, accumulate an arsenal of snowballs Calvin and Hobbes style, then begin a snowball war. Take everyone else by surprise and make sure you protect your carefully built bunker. (This usually requires more than one person.)

Curl up with a good book in bed and read while keeping nice and warm with a mug of hot chocolate and a soft blanket.

Snowed In

While I did have those of little faith who told me that it doesn’t snow in Austin, I now have proof. Yes, it does snow in Austin! And not only does it snow, it sticks (although not all the time). This is the second time this year it has snowed, but the first time that it stuck. And school was even canceled because of it! Talk about luck. What’s even better is that it didn’t reopen until 11 a.m., Wednesday, Feb. 26.

Anyway, as mature college kids, we of course did not run out of our dorms at 9:30 p.m. to play in the snow. No, in fact, we did not slide down the mini-hill in the Quad, or have a giant snowball fight, or build a snowman, or throw snowballs at people’s windows.

In fact, we stayed inside, where it was warm, and did mature college things, like study. Because, in the off chance classes weren’t canceled, we wanted to be sure we were prepared for them.

Yeah, right.

C’mon, what do y’all take me for? This is central Texas, after all, and essentially, we don’t know what snow is. Some well-informed Californian, who won’t be named, pointed out that what we said was snow was really just sleet and ice. It’s Texas snow, don’t be hatin’ on the Texas snow. Besides, he was out playing in it, too. Even Dave, the local Bostonian, appreciated the snow. (See, in Boston, it snows in unpleasant amounts that one has to shovel it, not play in it. Here, it was nice, because he didn’t have to shovel it and it was just enough to play in.)

On top of that, there’s no such thing as a “mature college student.” If you find one, he or she is a graduate student or a fifth or sixth year who finally has to pick a major and graduate in the near future. Or a really tired engineering student who inadvertently slept through the snow.

As for me, I enjoyed the snow. It’s not as though I’d never seen snow before (I’ve lived in Virginia and I’ve even been to Canada over spring break), but there’s something different about seeing snow where you live when it’s not a regular occurrence. I mean, the nasty cold weather that usually accompanies snow is not exactly rare in Austin, but the snow is and that’s what makes it special. Sure, there are tons of jokes about people in Austin, and south and central Texas in general (not being able to drive at the first flake and how everything must come to a screeching halt), but really, everyone needs a random weather-created break from life. If it weren’t for people not being able to handle severe weather, we would never get a gift-from-the-sky day off from school. And that’s what’s really fun about it; it’s unexpected and a nice little surprise.

And even the sophisticated northerners, who know what snow really looks and feels like and who’ve built snowmen before and who’ve grown to actually dislike the stuff they’ve seen it so much, enjoyed the snow because it was unexpected, rare and unusual. And fun. There’s really something undeniably fun and compelling about a bunch of people playing in the snow and throwing snowballs at each other. Even if we southerners don’t know that we have to pack the snow together to make it stick to itself, we still have fun throwing it at each other. We don’t particularly appreciate a snow-educated northerner packing snowballs and throwing them at us because they’re usually well-constructed, well-aimed and sting a little.

And it’s even funnier because it was a bunch of college kids screaming and running around with snow in their hands like little children. The destruction of the snowman inspired homicidal thoughts even (just joking). If only I’d had some juice, I would have gathered enough snow to make myself a snow cone.

Yeah, when the snow comes down, so do our mentalities. We’re really just bigger-sized children. (If you don’t believe that college kids are essentially immature, refer to last semester’s “mudding” escapades.)



	Katie \| Profile \| Reflections \| Journal 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 Fall 2002 \| Home
	Top Five Things to Do in the Snow Make and throw snowballs. Slide down hills on the snow (sled, slide on your behind, fall gracefully, whatever makes you happy). Build a snowman. Build a large wall and fort of ice, accumulate an arsenal of snowballs Calvin and Hobbes style, then begin a snowball war. Take everyone else by surprise and make sure you protect your carefully built bunker. (This usually requires more than one person.) Curl up with a good book in bed and read while keeping nice and warm with a mug of hot chocolate and a soft blanket. Snowed In While I did have those of little faith who told me that it doesn’t snow in Austin, I now have proof. Yes, it does snow in Austin! And not only does it snow, it sticks (although not all the time). This is the second time this year it has snowed, but the first time that it stuck. And school was even canceled because of it! Talk about luck. What’s even better is that it didn’t reopen until 11 a.m., Wednesday, Feb. 26. Anyway, as mature college kids, we of course did not run out of our dorms at 9:30 p.m. to play in the snow. No, in fact, we did not slide down the mini-hill in the Quad, or have a giant snowball fight, or build a snowman, or throw snowballs at people’s windows. In fact, we stayed inside, where it was warm, and did mature college things, like study. Because, in the off chance classes weren’t canceled, we wanted to be sure we were prepared for them. Yeah, right. C’mon, what do y’all take me for? This is central Texas, after all, and essentially, we don’t know what snow is. Some well-informed Californian, who won’t be named, pointed out that what we said was snow was really just sleet and ice. It’s Texas snow, don’t be hatin’ on the Texas snow. Besides, he was out playing in it, too. Even Dave, the local Bostonian, appreciated the snow. (See, in Boston, it snows in unpleasant amounts that one has to shovel it, not play in it. Here, it was nice, because he didn’t have to shovel it and it was just enough to play in.) On top of that, there’s no such thing as a “mature college student.” If you find one, he or she is a graduate student or a fifth or sixth year who finally has to pick a major and graduate in the near future. Or a really tired engineering student who inadvertently slept through the snow. As for me, I enjoyed the snow. It’s not as though I’d never seen snow before (I’ve lived in Virginia and I’ve even been to Canada over spring break), but there’s something different about seeing snow where you live when it’s not a regular occurrence. I mean, the nasty cold weather that usually accompanies snow is not exactly rare in Austin, but the snow is and that’s what makes it special. Sure, there are tons of jokes about people in Austin, and south and central Texas in general (not being able to drive at the first flake and how everything must come to a screeching halt), but really, everyone needs a random weather-created break from life. If it weren’t for people not being able to handle severe weather, we would never get a gift-from-the-sky day off from school. And that’s what’s really fun about it; it’s unexpected and a nice little surprise. And even the sophisticated northerners, who know what snow really looks and feels like and who’ve built snowmen before and who’ve grown to actually dislike the stuff they’ve seen it so much, enjoyed the snow because it was unexpected, rare and unusual. And fun. There’s really something undeniably fun and compelling about a bunch of people playing in the snow and throwing snowballs at each other. Even if we southerners don’t know that we have to pack the snow together to make it stick to itself, we still have fun throwing it at each other. We don’t particularly appreciate a snow-educated northerner packing snowballs and throwing them at us because they’re usually well-constructed, well-aimed and sting a little. And it’s even funnier because it was a bunch of college kids screaming and running around with snow in their hands like little children. The destruction of the snowman inspired homicidal thoughts even (just joking). If only I’d had some juice, I would have gathered enough snow to make myself a snow cone. Yeah, when the snow comes down, so do our mentalities. We’re really just bigger-sized children. (If you don’t believe that college kids are essentially immature, refer to last semester’s “mudding” escapades.)