Being from Virginia Beach, I don't get much snow at home. Now that I live in Charlottesville, Virginia, however, snow is much more common in the mountains. During the pain of finals season, few things make any student smile. Last Sunday was the first snow storm of the year in Charlottesville, and one of the best days.

Even though I had a final the next day and spent all day inside studying, I got to look outside and see the snow. It was the prettiest sight; all the buildings were covered in white, and all the students (that didn't have an exam the next day) were outside enjoying the incessant flurries. Although I wished I was outside too, I got to experience my first college snow in a time where I really needed it. Walking back from studying, I passed trees covered in white and the Rotunda looking beautiful as ever. My hands were too cold to take any decent pictures, but for that I was thankful. I got to enjoy the moment.

The quiet was relaxing, to say the least, I felt happiness that I definitely have not felt in a while through the pain of constantly studying. This was the most relaxed I had felt since Thanksgiving break.

The world works in mysterious ways. The snow came at the start of finals week in which all students were stressed, and many students from other states had never even seen snow before. Everyone was silently enjoying the prettiest day of the year at the start of one of the most stressful weeks. I look back at my first semester of college filled with stress and homesickness and am grateful for that day of the first snow. It made me feel, for one of the first times, like my school is home. Snow days in Virginia Beach were some of the best days of my life, and snow at college took me back to that homely feeling.

Thank you Mother Nature for bringing me snow, and for bringing me peace during finals.