Snow

Glancing out the many tall windows that encircled the walls of the chemistry lab, snow, silent and graceful, fell to the earth. I looked at my watch. 4:22pm. The excitement that had built up in anticipation of our impending winter storm was reaching to the max and thoughts of class being cancelled the next day were on every chemistry student’s mind. Jessica, Paul, and I were already discussing what we would do if classes were indeed cancelled as we finished supercooling our t-butyl alcohol and ‘unknown c’ solution…I know…exciting stuff, right? Simply stated, I really don’t care about determining the molar mass of an unknown substance by dissolving it in a solvent with a known freezing point constant and measuring the change in freezing point and I was overjoyed at the fact that this was my last chemistry lab for the semester. But I digress.

After cleaning up our lab apparatus, we donned our winter coats, hats, scarves, and mittens, and prepared to face the previously gentle-falling snow that had now somehow quickly turned into a mini blizzard. I said my goodbyes to Jessica, telling her that I’d see her next week and began my long, extensive, and enduring thirteen minute walk from the Physics and Chemistry buildings to Mark Twain Hall. All right, so thirteen minutes might not seem like a long time, but when you’re in college and “walking in the snow uphill both ways” as they say, it’s certainly an adventure.

The snow stuck to the ground and covered the campus in a white blanket. It settled high on the ledges, crannies, and trimmings of buildings, making the architecture stand out even more almost as if it were cleansing the old away and replacing it with the new. It clung to the trees where icicles already hung, unbending in the brisk wind that blew them. Walking through the snow across campus, however cold, windy, and wet it was, a peace somehow settled over me. A small piece of home was here. A bit of Christmas was coming through in the midst of the end of the semester and dreaded final exams. I smiled and welcomed the snow. For a brief moment, everything was peaceful, silent, appreciative, and calming.

Reaching to Mark Twain Hall, I quickly climbed the stairs to the second floor to my room where I found Sarah doing a bit of homework, Christmas music lightly playing, Christmas tree all lit up. Finally, a free night to relax and do homework at my own leisure…maybe watch a movie, read a book, drink some hot chocolate, or just take a nap. Two more weeks of the semester…sure, I can do that…but I can’t wait to come home.