By Ada Zhang
I wake up shivering, toes literally (and I meant literally) frozen. I check the weather app on my phone. Forty-three degrees. Yesterday was 65.
I don my favorite winter apparel: an oversized long sleeve tee, my College Organization sweatshirt, and my black North Face. This weather totally calls for leggings, so I put those on too.
I look like a bloated ninja. It’s awesome.
I think for a second that jeans might actually be the better option, given how Waco has suddenly turned into the arctic tundra over night.
Nah, I’ll stick with leggings.
My look is almost perfect, but something is missing. My Uggs! I can’t face winter without Uggs. They’re pretty much God’s gift to womankind. I slip those soft, angelic things onto my feet.
Now I’m ready for anything.
The blizzard outside tussles my hair, the wind blowing right at my face as I pilgrimage through the freezing cold to get to my first class. My nose and ears progressively become more and more red, and I fear I might get frostbitten. I don’t even know what frostbite is exactly, but I think this weather could definitely make it happen. It was a terrible mistake, leaving the chapstick at home. My lips are literally about to crack into a million pieces. Literally.
Am I in Moscow or something? This is ridiculous.
In class all everyone talks about is how cold it is.
“Dude, have you been outside today?”
“Yeah, man. It’s freezing!”
A few people don’t even show up, the abrasive weather apparently too much for them to handle.
Of course, that one guy from Michigan tries to disprove our claims. He tells us what winter is like in his hometown, but we could care less if it’s 15 degrees and snowing over there.
Waco is cold today, and that is an indisputable fact.
In-between classes, I decide to post a Facebook status: “It’s sooooooo cold today!!!!” I add a snowflake emoji and hit enter. Before the passing period is over, I’m already at 30 likes.
I call my roommate to pick me up after class because it’s torture — no, it’s utterly inhumane — having to walk in this weather.
That night, I blast the heater and cover myself with the thickest blanket I own. I fall asleep dreaming of popsicles in July, of pool parties and Nike running shorts. Better days for sure.
I wake up and it’s a miracle. My toes have thawed! It’s 70 degrees.
But I’ll probably still wear my leggings.
