Hello all! Campus has been closed down for almost four days
now, and I can see people cross-country skiing along the street outside my
window. Portland as a city seems ill-equipped to deal with the record-breaking
levels of snow we've had in the last few days. All the people from mountainous areas or
the Midwest are internally laughing. Even though we had less than a foot of
snow, everything has shut down – no driving anywhere, no bus service, no classes, limited
library and food hours. For the first three days, it was incredible. My whole hall was in a tizzy of high spirits. I felt like I had
been transported from all worry and stress, like I'd been placed in a cozy cabin in the snowy wilderness. It
was a much-needed vacation. For the duration of the campus
shut-down, my friends and I have been having so much fun! When it first started
snowing on Thursday, we all raced outside to take pictures.
From left to right: India, Felicia, me, Nicole, Sarah, and Julie, with Annalyn in front!
On Friday, the campus was blanketed in white, and still the snow continued to pile up. I woke up at my usual time (7am), checked my email, saw
that my morning classes were cancelled, and went back to sleep for another two hours. Later,
I basked in the peaceful, quiet beauty of the campus by taking a solitary walk
(with my camera) down to a place I had never been before – the rose garden down
past the flagpole and the swimming pool. I discovered a trail that went through
the woods there that I had never been on, so, naturally, I took it. My
footprints were the first on the trail that morning.
The reflecting pool and the manor house.
Walking in a winter wonderland...
The trails below the rose garden.
We ended up having a
huge painting party in the Akin lounge that evening. My
friend Dani had brought paints and brushes to share, and I had some supplies
from home. We spent the afternoon listening and singing along to songs from Mulan while we painted! Painting seems
to be the new favorite pastime of Akin Hall, as you might have noticed from this entry and the last.
Later in the evening, we all curled up in Sam’s room with
the snow flurrying down outside the dark window and watched Disney’s Frozen. Yesterday, we continued watching
Disney movies (The Lion King and The Lion King 2), releasing our inner children and singing along to all the
songs. We also had a lot of fun on South Campus sledding down the hill there on
bits of cardboard and a mattress covered in duct tape that someone had left
there.
All in all, it was an incredible couple of days, but I think
most everyone is ready to get back to class tomorrow. Bit too much of a good
thing, I guess. The snow has frozen into ice and we can’t go sledding anymore. The weather has worn out its welcome, so to speak. We’re not dying of boredom by any means, but some of us are getting a little “cabin fever” from being cooped up so long. I for one can’t wait for the snow to melt so I don’t have to run on a treadmill anymore. I miss running at Tryon Creek State Park! I’m going through trail-running-addiction-withdrawal, and it’s only been a few days!
That being said, I love snow and I’m really sad that this doesn't happen in Portland very often. The lack of classes gave me a lot of time to catch up on scholarship application essays and general studying, as well as time to goof off and watch movies and Doctor Who.
Hope you are all doing well! If you have any questions about
life at Lewis and Clark, email me at jessicakostka@lclark.edu.
Jess