cincinnati whiteout '09

Snow days! It is rare that C.C.U. has snow days, but the weather has demanded them: freezing rain has left up to a quarter-inch of ice on all the roads. Hamilton County was on a Level Three Snow Emergency this morning, and I went on a walk down Glenway Avenue. It was quite strange seeing nothing but snow and ice, the roads unpaved, complete emptiness, the sounds those of only the birds and the wind rattling the ice-heavy branches. People walked down the streets, heads hung low, fighting off the cold. It was as if the world had been stripped of all technology.

The snow days have been fun. I am itching to go to my classes, which are fascinating, so I am starving for knowledge. But, regardless, I have found ways to enjoy myself. Tackling my friend Sarah in the snow. Throwing snowballs. Building a gigantic igloo. “Eskimo is a racial slur for the Inuit people.” Sledding down massive hills and slicing open my finger (my plastic sled shattered into several pieces, cutting my body in nearly every fathomable place; I feel like a walking corpse drained of blood). Hanging out with friends in the café while sipping hot chocolates. The best part, however, has been crawling under the covers of my bed after spending eight hours in the snow, feeling my toes warming up underneath multiple fleece blankets. As the elite Romans would say, “Paradisio.”