Taylor

Most students, like myself, visit their prospective colleges when the weather is nice.  It just makes it easier to get around and you don’t hate your tour guide for stopping at every building.  But this also means you may not be prepared for the winter here at UIowa. So if you’re a first-year now, stop debating whether or not you should transfer to Texas or something, because the winter season, like all seasons, will pass.  And if you’re one of the lucky incoming Hawkeyes, probably counting down the days until high school is over, let me ease your worries.

It will snow.  It will snow from morning until night. It will snow until all hope of you getting to class is diminished. But you will still have to go to class anyway, because we value education here, and quite literally, nothing is going to keep the professors out of their classrooms. These people will brave blizzards for you.

I mean, look at this air shot of the whole state. When you’re coming back from your vacation to this, it’s almost tear worthy. Can you even see any identifiable land? It looks like nothing but snow to me.

But it’s not “nothing but snow.” There will be ice, sleet, rain, and consequently, mud everywhere for the first five feet of any building you walk in to. Your gloves will be inadequate to protect against the harsh cold.  The trek in-between classes will cause your socks to slide down in your boots and it will be ridiculously uncomfortable.  You’ll try to look cool by not putting your hood up, but then the wind will blow and a pile snow from a tree above you will land right on the back of your neck. I kid you not. I’ve seen it happen. (Not to me, obviously; I’m a professional).

Strangers might try to brighten your day by leaving you notes or pictures on the hood of your car, but I usually just wonder who thought that was a good idea. Writing in the dirt of a car is funny. In the snow, its just depressing. But that’s just me- you may find something like this to be charming. And to you I say “Rock on!” But I’m not about that life.

But it’s not all bad.  Once the snow settles, and you’re sitting in your dorm room, it makes for a pretty picture outside.  It will force you to hate travel to the point where you’d rather stay inside and study.  Your RA’s will plan awesome events to make up for it, like pot lucks, gingerbread house competitions, and lego nights.  Your instagram will become instantly more awesome from all the artsy winter photos you take of footprints in the snow and benches with icicles hanging off of them.  No one will judge you for your outfit because at this point, warm is warm.  The Cambus (free on campus transportation; literally campus-bus) will become your sanctuary and get you to where you need to be without freezing your buns.

And my personal favorite: Just before winter starts, when people start busting out their sweaters and jackets and the wind picks up, this wonderful thing happens.  The trees put on their sweaters too.  Which literally means that when most other campuses start to look dreary and desolate, Iowa still has the trees. The leaves will fall, sure, but the trunks will keep those fall colors alive.

So let’s face it.  Winter is winter. But there’s really no winter like Hawkeye Winter.

This entry was posted on Thursday, January 23rd, 2014 at 10:10 am and is filed under Campus Life, Photos, . You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a comment, or trackback from your own site.