I’m not really a snow person. Ask anyone who knows me personally and they’ll tell you that I don’t do cold. But during the month of December (aka the best, most joyous month of the year), I don’t mind the white stuff. Hell, I even encourage it! It just adds to that cozy, magical, Christmassy feeling that I adore. Unfortunately though, I wasn’t feeling very much in the Christmas spirit today.

It’s finals week. I feel like that short statement should explain it all. It’s the week all college students dread, the time of year that you reach stress levels that you didn’t know existed, the closest thing to cruel and unusual punishment. I had spent the entire morning working on an ethics study guide (9 total hours and 11 single spaced pages) only to look out the window to see that campus had been transformed into a snow globe. My anxiety was high, my tolerance for everything else was low, and now I had to walk to the library to print study guides.

I bundled up as best I could and headed out. Within seconds, my fingers were numb, my Uggs were wet, and snowflakes were staying all over my nose and eyelashes. (And no, Julie Andrews, these are not a few of my favorite things). I almost fell on my butt 3 times as I sloshed around in the slush that had not yet been salted. Thankfully, I made it to my destination in one piece, albeit very very cold.

I printed, I bundled, and I tucked my study guides into my jacket. Back out into the snow. I felt slightly more accomplished and a tad less stressed having the physical papers in my hand. I thought of the hot chocolate I would make to reward myself for going out in a blizzard. (Well, light blizzard).

Half way back to my apartment, I had to stop to wait for a car to pass, and found myself just standing there for a minute. Everything was silent. When I was little, I used to wake up on snowy mornings and open the front door to listen to the silence. There’s such a distinct stillness and peacefulness of falling snow. I’ve always loved it. Against the street lights, snowflakes frantically swirled and drifted in and out of each other, while I listened the slight pitter-patter of them falling on my hood. Even though my yoga pants were being soaked through and I couldn’t feel my ears, I was calm. It turned out to be the best study break I’ve had all week.

Maybe I could get used to the snow. (Maybe.)

Here’s to a snowy surprise & surviving finals.