California will always have a place in my heart because I have lived there a majority of my life. I will be the first to admit, however, that the golden state lacks in one particular area: the dramatic changing of the seasons. It should come as no surprise that now, finally living in Hoboken for the first time, I am absolutely ecstatic to finally have the chance to experience winter and all the fun experiences and activities that come along with it.
To be clear, it’s not like I even have a “real” winter coat by east coast standards in my closet or very practical snow or rain boots, so I’m not prepared in the slightest. Still, that is all besides the point. The point is there will be snow here! Rain! Spooky season! Trees with different colored leaves! Trees with no leaves! Ice skating! There are so many things to look forward to that I can hardly pay attention to my classes. Of course for legal reasons that is purely sarcasm but really, there is so much to look forward to here with regard to the changing of the seasons and I am so excited to finally have the opportunity to experience both a real fall and a real winter, complete with actual cold temperatures and trademark cold weather drinks like apple cider and hot chocolate with whipped cream. Yum!
It would not be entirely accurate to state that I have never experienced a real winter before, because I have seen snow and had the opportunity to sled and ski and camp in the winter. The difference is that I have never before had the chance to live in a place where it snows in the wintertime, and I am almost too excited to witness the first snow here this winter season, even though I know it will only be beautiful for a short period of time before it gets all mushy and starts to half melt in the daytime.
Now I know that this is entirely much too early to be talking about snow when we have hardly had any 60 degree or colder weather even here in Hoboken, but you will have to forgive me for getting ahead of myself and sounding like a little kid about all this talk about seasons. I just can hardly believe that, long at last, it’s finally coming—the weather and colors I saw in shows and movies but never really got to live in the midst of. In some ways I know it’s not always so dandy. I have heard people moan and groan about having to shovel the driveway in the dead of winter or complain about having cold feet or wet socks, all of which sound less than pleasant. And I know that this whole image I have in my head of winter being absolutely lovely will eventually be superimposed with the reality of the cold having a bite to it and the snow being not so fun to walk around in, especially since campus is very windy in certain areas. But regardless of all that I still can’t help but get excited about living in a place with more than one season, and I also can’t help but look forward to the opportunity to participate in quintessential winter activities and send pictures of the scenery back home to family and to friends.
I have a sneaking suspicion that reality will hit me soon enough that the cold gets old and that it is much more pleasant to walk to campus and between classes in nice, fair weather and under sunny blue skies. Right at this moment though I can’t help but look forward to my first fall and winter here in Hoboken.
Second-Year Freshman is an Opinion column used to explore the unique experiences of Sophomore students who studied remotely their freshman year during the coronavirus pandemic, and are now experiencing campus life for the first time during the 2021-2022 academic year.
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