As a girl from the Bay Area, I've never really witnessed a true winter nor lived in it. I mean, I've seen snow before and played in it, but I've never had to actually get stuff accomplished in a true winter. Winter in the Bay is more like fall in other states and it really doesn't reach below 50º. Living in Idaho for the past 6 months, I've now experienced a real fall and definitely experienced what I like to think is "a real winter" even though I was told that it rarely snows in Boise, ID. This Winter in Boise has been more severe than usual and has gotten record breaking snowfall, which of course would happen for my first winter experience! Here's what it was like for me:

"It's snowing!"

"I have to walk to class in this?"

"It's not that deep!"

"What? It's not that cold!"

It really is THAT cold.

"No class today. Snow day."

Believe it or not, I actually really enjoyed the snow at first but now it's getting irritating. One nice thing about it snowing is that there are more clouds making it warmer than a day without. On the other side, it's incredibly annoying getting to class while snow is blowing in your face and sticking to all of your belongings. After witnessing it for some time, days when there's no class seems to be the only time I'm truly enjoying the snow or winter-like conditions.

One really positive thing I've gotten out of my first winter is that when I go home to California, it's really not that cold to me. It's nice not having to put on layer after layer when I get home, and it makes me laugh when I see people bundled up and complaining about how cold it is. It makes me a little more thankful for putting off experiencing the true cold for so long. People from Idaho are always commenting about how us Californians don't enjoy the weather, but I really enjoy it at times! Yeah, it gets tiring but it's fun witnessing a change and living in an environment I've never witnessed before. There's days that I love it and days that I hate it, but I feel like everyone has similar feelings.