I have officially been immersed in my first winter in the North. Being from North Carolina, I’m not used to the 10-degree weather and the negative 6-degree wind chill. Not saying that it doesn’t get cold in NC, because it definitely does. All of my friends asked me if I had ever seen snow…yes, I’ve seen snow before. They said, “Good, expect a lot of it!”

I was so used to getting up in the morning, seeing that it was 30 degrees outside, and not really worrying about it. I would put on a light sweater, jeans, riding boots, and my black Pea Coat. I would walk outside and get in my car where I kept a blanket so the leather seats weren’t too cold when I drove to school. I would then proceed to turn on my seat warmers and blast the heat. By the time I got to school, I was nice and toasty and all I had to do was walk from the parking lot to the building and I would be good to go. It’s a completely different story in New York. First, I get up and look at the weather. I see that it's thirty degrees and cry a little bit inside. Then I put on a long sleeve shirt and a heavy sweater over that. Fleece leggings are put on under my jeans along with a pair of crew socks and fuzzy socks to go over that. Riding boots are next. After that is my army green parka from DKNY followed by a knitted scarf from Zara that I can wrap several times around my neck and just hope that the icy wind doesn’t find its way through the holes. Once my coat is zipped and my scarf is secured, I put on my gloves and my ear muffs and begin my walk to the subway – where you sweat and feel like you’re going to die because you have so many layers on and there’s way more passengers on the train car than is probably legal. I digress.

You would think that 27 layers would keep me warm, but it really doesn’t, especially with the wind. My friends and I always say, “If it wasn’t windy it wouldn’t be that bad!” but we all know that really isn’t true, because New York in itself is just cold.

Besides the fact that your entire body freezes as soon as you walk outside, the city really is pretty in the winter. There is pure, white snow on everything and it makes the streets look so magical. When the sun hits the snow and it sparkles you feel like anything is possible and you get this glimmer of hope that maybe the weather won’t be so bad in the coming weeks and spring will pop up early. To be fair, Punxsutawney Phil didn’t see his shadow, so fingers crossed!!

All in all, the winters are bitter and cold, but I have survived so far! A Southerner in the North for the winter is always a funny sight.