My first Scottish
snowstorm
Well, today it happened…it finally snowed! I know from the picture that it doesn’t look like much, and in actuality it wasn’t much (most likely just under ¼ inch), but my happiness remains valid. I had my window open all night like I do every day (the radiator under the window is so incredibly hot that it would be a boiler room if I didn’t) and during the night I kept waking up because I was so incredibly cold, but I was too tired to get up and close the window. Eventually, around 6am I woke up and looked outside. The ground was lightly covered in white snow and it was still snowing. Those fluffy white flakes were like gold streaming down from the heavens in my eyes. I missed it so much. I know I’m waxing poetic about something mundane like snow, but I do love the stuff and the opportunity to witness it over here is very limited. I couldn’t get enough of looking upon the landscape while on the bus to campus, and the campus itself was gorgeous covered in a light layer of white. Snow on a 500+ year old campus can be quite an experience to behold, like something out of a Thomas Kincaid painting. Unfortunately for me, this beautiful setting began to melt as early as 11am. By 2pm my lovely snow was no more. *Sigh* Ah well, perhaps I’ll get lucky and it will bestow itself upon this fair city again before summer comes. I do doubt it, however. The only weather we get over here is drizzle and perhaps a steady rain. I arrived on 27 January, and I have honestly only witnessed about 3 full days of sunshine. Every other day has either been cloudy and/or rainy, or mostly/partly cloudy (and usually drizzling). I don’t mind of course, I happen to like gloomy weather (perhaps because it fits what is in my soul…okay, now I’m getting too maudlin!), but I’d advise anyone who has depression issues not to visit “The Granite City” (Aberdeen), or I suppose much of Great Britain in general, as they might find themselves worse off.
Something else I wanted to point out was the wonderful use
of cleverness and ingenuity that the students use here. What I’m referring to
is that the people here at Hillhead (and perhaps the on-campus housing as well,
I don’t know for sure) make great use of the somewhat chilly air to keep their
food/beverages cold. The first day I arrived I noticed plastic bags hanging out of
people’s windows and wondered what in the devil they were for. I quickly
realized that placing items in a plastic bag, tying said bag to the radiator
and throwing them out the window was an ingenious way to keep items cold in
lieu of a refrigerator. The nights alone keep food quite frosty. I had never
come across this phenomenon at SCSU, as most people brought little fridges with
them to their dorms (not to mention that windows had screens on them, if I’m
not mistaken. The same cannot be said about this place.). And, deviating
slightly from my train of thought, can I just say that I find it very strange
that I have yet to see one bug here? When I first noticed that our windows
could open widely, and that they weren’t protected with screens, I thought it
most strange. I was sure that the next day my room would be infested with all
and sundry sort of bugs, but I was mistaken. You would think that someplace
that is constantly wet would attract many unwanted pests, but that is apparently
not the case. I haven’t even seen one spider (thank heavens!), even in the old
multi-centuries old buildings. How very odd!
