Winter in Williamsburg

A little more than a week ago, I was outside in sunny 60 degree weather and today I find myself trudging through campus with over three inches of powdery snow, a rare phenomenon in Williamsburg!  As a Chicagoan I’m no stranger to bizarre weather: I’ve been outside in a T-Shirt playing soccer with my friends and have had to run home to grab a coat because it has started snowing-in late spring! But even Chicago can’t compare to this strange weather phenomenon of Williamsburg, VA!  The “winter” season in this area hardly qualifies as such, seeing as the thermometer barely dips below 40, yet the students still bundle up in their puffy winter coats and fuzzy snow boots to walk the five minutes to their next class!  This 40 degree weather never fails to feel glorious to me after flying in from the negative 15 degrees I can usually expect at home over winter break.  However, Williamsburg surprised me this week by delivering a snow storm just a few days after my birthday—the ultimate gift from Mother Nature!

My first encounter with the snow came at a rare (and quite untimely) fire alarm in my dorm room on Saturday morning.  Greeting the rest of my dorm mates in my PJ’s and glasses was not the ideal way to start my weekend, yet the fluffy snow seemed to oddly brighten everyone’s mood! I always forget that while I am constantly encountering snow back home in Chicago, my Virginian classmates hardly ever experience it.  Their excitement made me excited!  After a homemade pancake breakfast with my roommates, we were ready to go play outside!  Running around our apartment piling on layers and layers of leggings, sweatpants, and sweaters-really anything we could find around the place, we looked like eager little kids about to embark upon the tundra! Guarded against the snow with our mittens and hats, we proceeded to the one place that was sure to have a crowd: the Sunken Gardens.

Sure enough, as we round the corner we see a massive snowball fight ensuing!  Without skipping a beat, my roommates and I rush into the throng and start pelting snow at anyone in sight!  Laughing and dodging, ducking and running we were soon covered head to toe in white, our faces substantially colder than before!  The fight proceeded for some time, with no end in sight except that some students had crafted a snowball catapult that started bombarding others with snow from above, so that many had to surrender.  Out of breath and with bright red faces from the cold, my roommates and I needed a break.  To warm up we met up with some friends at the Daily Grind for a nice cup of hot cocoa, the perfect post-snowball fight treat!

– Megan Castle ’11