By amrawi
5 missed calls. 3 text messages. 7 Facebook messages; it was no wonder that I woke up at 8am frightened by the endless amount of buzzes generating out of my phone. As I managed to build up the strength to open a glimpse of my right eye, I caught one word on the text message, that sent me jumping straight out of my bed and to my living room window.
I stood startled. I was mesmerized by what I saw in front of me. Looking out of the window I gave out an expression; quite similar to the one I gave to my parents when I was told that Santa Clause didn’t exist. I was star struck. I have never seen such a sight. This sure is nothing like home, I thought to myself, as I saw tiny droplets of white, fluffy snow fall onto the ground. My eyes grew wider as I traced each tiny droplet of ice, as it accumulated one after the other creating a thick blanket that covered the cement sidewalk below me.
With the biggest smile on my face, I couldn’t help but take out my hand and touch a falling
snowflake. One. Two. Three; I waited till about ten fluffy identical snowflakes accumulated onto my palm (which explains why I am now sitting in bed suffering from a major cold). Extremely impressed by the cotton texture of snow, I ran into my room ( trying very hard to not wake up my roommate, due to my excessive enthusiasm) and within minutes I was pushing open the doors to a white covered field ahead of me.
Twirling around in the snow, and attempting to make a snowball out of the less than one-inch snow on the ground, people could tell I was not from here. With giggles in the background, and people questioning my behavior, I heard Marie, an exchange student from Prague call out “ Typical Hanna, I knew I would find you here”.
With my jacket covered in snow and my shivering hands turning almost blue, it was about time for my 10am class. Unaware that the snow doesn’t really come off your clothes that easily, I had to enter my French class with a black coat covered in cotton-like snow. Professor Marshall gave out one loud laugh and I was told to have a seat.
Many people may take this sight for granted but for someone coming from Egypt, who is used to the desert sun, it really was a beautiful view. It’s not everyday that I get to snuggle up on the couch with a warm cup of hot chocolate topped with marshmallows, and trace snow flakes as they fall on to the ground.