Picture this: you’re sitting in your ENGL 110 class listening to Mr. Peters explain Flat Earth conspiracy theories when your eyes catch sight of a white speck through the window. And then you realize–SNOW!! IT SNOWS IN DELAWARE!!
This may seem a bit dramatic, but I have seen more snow in the first two weeks on campus than I’ve seen in the last two years in Virginia Beach. I’ve always loved the snow and have always been deprived of it. Hallmark movies have been taunting me with the thought of snow on Christmas while it was warm enough to go swimming at the beach during the holidays. I love everything about snow; the way it falls so softly and makes the world go quiet; the way it reflects the streetlights and makes the cloudy skies glow with warm orange light; and most of all, I love the sound it makes when it crunches under my feet.
As someone who has rarely witnessed snow, I have missed out on pretty much all snow-related activities. Snow in Virginia Beach melts the next day, so I’ve never built a proper snowman, and the elevation there is literally 0 feet, so I’ve never been sledding either. This made the beginning of the Spring semester in Newark the prime opportunity to get in some chilly fun!
A few weekends ago, my friends and I were walking back from Caesar Rodney (pre-closure) and could not pass up the snow sitting on the Harrington Turf. So, we did what any group of college kids would do: we built a snowman. He was a little ugly due to the remnants of turf rubber stuck in his body, but that didn’t stop us from naming him Arnold Snowarzenegger and taking photos with him. Unfortunately, Arnold didn’t make it very long due to a group of students on the turf that night who knocked him over.
I am not-so-secretly hoping that it snows again this semester so that I can build another snowman and enjoy the crisp crunch of snow underfoot one more time before the weather turns warmer. However, this is probably out of the picture, as we’ve already gotten a taste of Newark Spring here on campus. It hit 70 degrees this past week and it was incredibly nice out! Students were putting up hammocks in front of Harrington, playing spike ball, eating lunch outside, studying on the Harrington turf, and just generally enjoying the change in weather. This is definitely a turn for nicer weather, instead of the rainy and cold days we had a few weeks ago.
My thoughts are now occupied with plans for hiking to the reservoir and to White Clay Creek on a breezy Saturday afternoon with my friends. We’ve been loving the change in the weather and are eagerly awaiting Spring’s official arrival on March 20th. Campus is really coming to life as the days get brighter and longer. The Perkin’s Live! events have been super fun so far, and there have been a ton of socially distanced activities for first-year Honors students, such as paint nights, trivia nights, The First-Year Fellows’ Leprechaun Adventure in Redding this past week, and the weekly Munson Study Breaks. With one-third of the semester under my belt, I’m fully settling into the rhythms of living on campus and am excited to see what the rest of the spring will bring!
