The Sudden Silence

Alternative title: I guess it's break? 

This morning I woke up to snow. Not much, mind you. Barely a dusting collecting on car hoods and rooftops. The snowflakes cruised on by my window, borne on a strong northern wind. I dream of the day I'll look out my window and see an expanse of nature. But for now, I'll settle for bushes, a parking lot, and the occasional squirrel. I'm still a student after all, though this whole getting a paycheck thing has been amazing. 

So today marks the beginning of my Thanksgiving break! I'm not the type of person to skimp on my eight hours of sleep-- ever! The closest I've come to pulling an all-nighter was one absolutely miserable computer science assignment which had me stumbling to bed around 2 am. However, there is something to be said about the bliss of sleeping in, even if, when the alarm blares, I technically have had my eight hours of sleep. 

I'm excited about my first (massive) solo road trip coming up on Monday. I'll be traveling down south to spend Thanksgiving with some relatives – – as my parents were inconsiderate enough to be (safely) in France till Christmas. Six hours with just me, the road, and an audiobook of my choosing. Oh, and a AAA card in my back pocket. 

By some weird fluctuation of the universe, I don't exactly have homework over the break. However, I am excited to finally have time to devote to my biophysics reading. I've been swamped with either work, or a need to take a break from physics, and haven't read as much as I would have liked. 

The sun is threatening to come out and soon the snow will be whisked away. That's alright-- I have loads of laundry to do and a library run to make. After all, I can't let the beauty of the past interfere with my appreciation of the present. 

It'll snow again, mostly likely before I leave for Christmas break, and it'll be a rich, deep snow that'll have me griping about wet shoes and messy roads. Until then I'll enjoy the delicate balance of fall and winter, a patchwork quilt spread over my city. 

After Thanksgiving break, I have two weeks of classes and then finals. Though to be fair, I only have one final during finals week – – my other classes have take-home finals before the week of finals. And then, poof, my first semester of grad school will be completed! Only nine more (hopefully) after that. 

A couple years ago, I wrote Thanksgiving post in which I don't believe I said that I was thankful for it all. So in parting, I am thankful for a challenging, but not overwhelming first semester, the friends I've made here, my beautiful apartment with a cheerful little fireplace, and the friends I have scattered around the world. 

As always, thanks for reading :)

Snow Day!

I will, undoubtedly, go back and finally write a post recounting the rest of my adventures in Dublin, and one on my beautiful day trip to Annecy, BUT I wanted to write a quick post about the wonderful surprise I had today.



Yesterday, as I was walking home from class it started to lightly snow. It took a while before it began to accumulate, just a powder sugar dusting on the still-green grass. The weather channel said it would snow an inch or so that night, so when I went to bed I eagerly waited to see what morning would look like.

When I woke up, I couldn't believe the amount of snow that had magically appeared outside of my window. It was easily more snow than Jonesboro receives in five winters combined. 

It was surreal walking to school. I had a feeling that I wouldn't have class when I finally trekked to my building. The roads were nearly impossible, and a beautiful strange silence lay alongside the freshly fallen snow.

I felt like I was walking in a strange winter wonderland which has previously only existed in the tv. I didn't have class-- turns out the public transportation was down, which meant that 75% of my class and my teacher weren't able to make it. After this pleasant surprise some friends and I headed out to walk around town, marveling over the quickly falling snow, before stopping for a much need warm coffee.

It was surprisingly busy out on the main street. Local schools seemed to be out and everyone was out as though the foot of snow piling up around them was no big deal. Almost every store was open; people were driving, or attempting to drive on the narrow, often times steep, now icy roads, which more times than not resulted in stalled cars halfway up a hill.

This afternoon the clouds lifted and the view from Michelle's window turned magical as the mountains appeared through the fog, carrying the most beautiful winter coat of bright snow.

St. Etienne isn't the most beautiful city in France, but it sure looks gorgeous when coated with freshly fallen snow.

Hopefully I'll be able to motivate myself sometime soon to talk about Dublin/10 other blog post ideas I have swirling around in my head.

Thanks for reading :)