Winter really has arrived

This morning I woke up to a beautiful, cloudless, sunny day (picture below)...one tiny detail: it was -15°C. After more than a week of temperatures below freezing, I can now safely say that I’m cold. Yes, it does look beautiful outside, but no, feeling the inside of your nose freeze is not so nice. Getting dressed now takes at least 10 minutes, and the multiple layers of clothing make you walk in a funny way, with your arms sticking out an angle beside your body. At least all my Swedish classmates are equally frozen so I don’t feel so much like the silly foreigner who can’t handle winter.

There is always frozen fun to be had though. The other morning I was thrilled at the sight of a young man running to catch the bus, taking a corner too fast, slipping, doing a small trying-to-stay-upright dance...which failed...falling, sliding at least a meter along the sidewalk before finally coming to rest near the bus. It was the most perfect fall I’ve seen in a long time. Since it’s usually me who is falling over all the time it’s nice when someone else does it too.

Tomorrow my classmates and I have an all day visit to some cattle farms, and it seems like it will be colder than today. At least dairy cows produce a large amount of heat, so cuddling up next to them in the barn may be a viable option if it gets too cold. Hopefully we also get extra credit if we end up frost-bitten while on a school trip.

Sunny, but freezing, day at SLU