I am from the East Coast, just outside of Washington, D.C. While I was in high school, we were hit by two very large storms christened “Snowpocalypse” and “Snowmageddon.” If there is about an inch of snow on the ground, the government closes, and schools closely follow suit. While I was in high school, we had so many snow days that a few years we had to make up class days on federal holidays and at the end of the school year. I remember hearing that, at the same time, friends of mine in the Midwest had their first snow day since kindergarten.
That brings me to now: I moved to the Midwest to attend Saint Mary’s College. I had heard horror stories from my family who had attended Saint Mary’s and Notre Dame 20 years before and how, one day, it was even illegal to drive on the roads. My first two years here, I kept waiting for those horrific winters and they never arrived. Yes, we did get a lot more snow than I did at home, but it wasn’t the extreme I had been led to believe was the norm, here. In my first two years, whenever it snowed, I would check my email and the news, out of habit from years of ‘when it snows, school is closed.’ For two years I was disappointed. At the beginning of this year, there were reports that we were due for the worst winter in a very long time. But I had heard that repeatedly since freshman year. I thought nothing of it.
Back home, we had strange weather over Christmas. Normally the big snows happen in late January, early February so I left all my snow clothes back at school, leaving room in my baggage for other things. But we got snow while I was home and the huge storm that swept through made it even worse over here in the Midwest. It was illegal to drive on the roads. It was so cold frostbite could occur in five minutes and engines could fail without warning; putting those two together is not appealing at all.
But now, when I had just gotten to the point where I had accepted I was never going to have a snow day while in college, I got two. IN A ROW. They didn’t affect me too much since I don’t have Tuesday classes, but they have given me a reason to open my bottle of wine, sit back and watch trashy television and enjoy the company of all my friends. So cheers! Hope you all enjoyed your snow days!
Contact Annemarie Loessberg at
aloess01@saintmarys.edu
The views expressed in the Inside Column are those of the author and not necessarily those of The Observer.
