Chatonka

I woke up to my cell phone alarm on Friday morning at 7AM, quite drowsy and not at all feeling ready to take an engineering exam. However, when I rolled over to look out the window all I could see was whiteness. Wait a minute… it was snowing!

Huzzah!

This is what I had been waiting for, I thought, and jumped out of bed to see how hard it was snowing. After realizing that I didn’t have my glasses and couldn’t actually see anything, I fumbled around my desk until my hands found their metal frame.

Huzzah! It was still snowing, and I could actually see the flakes!

At 7:05 the ground was covered, and the thought of walking around in the snow got me moving quickly. One of my most favorite things to do is to be outside while it’s actively snowing, and another is being up in the morning, so when put together I was definitely excited.

While walking to my class I got this as a view of the science center:

My morning view of the science center

As you can see, there is a fair amount of snow on the ground. That picture was taken at about 7:50AM.

My exam went… decently (more on that in another post) and I spent the rest of the day enjoying the snow. And by that I mean being cooped up inside all morning and all afternoon in classes and labs, thinking about the snow.

In the evening I snapped this picture at sunset.

This is what my view looked like by sunset

It’s the view outside of my dorm. I’m pretty sure that it’s one of the best views on campus, and that makes me feel very lucky.

Hopefully the snow won’t melt immediately (it’s still here as of sunset on Saturday).

When I got to Philadelphia a few weeks ago it was certainly still summer. The days were hot and sunny, and the nights were the kind where you would wake up sweaty. Even with three fans going non stop it was still more intense than any of the camp nights I spent in northern Minnesota.

Luckily, that’s finally changing.

We had two torrential rains in the past week (I’m pretty sure that one was a result of the hurricane) and after they were finished the weather was noticeably colder. Last night was even cool enough that I was able to sleep with my comforter on and not overheat.

Now it’s time to see who isn’t used to the cold =).

(Monday, May 19 00:05) Frigid, Amazed
Well, I just arrived in Svalbard. It’s this tiny island north of Norway. During the summer months (More or less May through July) the sun doesn’t set at all and that’s currently throwing me way off. My mind knows that it’s midnight, and that I should be sleepy and ready for bed. But at the same time, I look up at the sky and see the sun high above me and my body doesn’t believe that it could possibly be night time. When we flew in I got some good videos of Svalbard, and I’m really glad that I’m coming here while it’s still snowy rather than arctic tundra. It’s cold, very cold. My thermometer says 10 degrees F. Anyways, I need to get to sleep now, I think I’ll use the thick curtains to block out the light. I’ll blog more about last Saturday and Sunday (May 17 was amazing!) tomorrow.

Last week it was -20 for a day or two. No wind, but still that’s exteremly cold. The extent of my outdoor experiences that day consisted of walking from school to the car, and one very short walk across the lake. I love how everything is so sharp and clear in the cold. I was pretty well bundled up, but my nose and cheeks still got very cold, cold enough to make me take a hot shower after returning inside.

Today it’s only -7, but the windchil is -30. I can’t believe it, just going out to the car was a challenge. Amazingly, yesterday was 44, which means that in just one day we had a 51 degree shift in temperature…. I don’t know if I’ve ever experienced that (other than when traveling) before. Tomorrow again is supposted to be quite warm, at least in the teens.