Kara Mercer

The weather outside is frightful, and I’m very disappointed that the nice fall weather has been cut off and strangled by an abundance of white, cold, mushy stuff.

Clearly I was wrong in thinking I would have more time to enjoy the beautiful colors of fall the rest of the semester and when I have Thanksgiving with my family over break. It looks like we’ll be enjoying a white Thanksgiving instead.

Snow is so beautiful, but I’d prefer all the snow later on in December.

Fall is short enough as it is, and winter does not technically start until the winter solstice on Dec. 22 this year. Since classes are still in session, students are going to have to walk through the snow and in the cold to class. As someone who gets cold very easily, this 20-degree weather is not something I look forward to every year. And for anyone who was waiting until after Thanksgiving to put up their holiday decorations, they’ll have to wait until the snow melts, or struggle with it to decorate.

Driving around in the snow is also dangerous.

With this snowfall I have seen a lot of ice on the roads. Driving in a car that does not have four-wheel drive with ice on the roads is terrifying. People will be traveling for the holiday to see family, and while the highways are typically well salted, it still increases the danger.

It may look pretty, but this winter wonderland is a hassle in disguise.

Faith Mellenthin

A sudden drop in temperature provided no time to adjust into winter weather, but living in DeKalb requires this kind of preparation. Even though many people broke out their heavy jackets for the first time, nobody should be completely surprised.

Illinois consistently has inconsistent weather that residents have learned to work around. The night it snowed, I was still able to warm up my car and drive it down the streets on campus because they were already cleared off. The maintenance of roads and sidewalks is the most impressive thing about living on a busy winter campus.

With this kind of weather to be expected, I hope students and faculty don’t dwell on the chilly wind and the extra few minutes it takes to clear the snow off your car or to put on an extra jacket. Complaining about being cold won’t change the fact that this happens every year.

Being one of the coldest campuses in Illinois, it is during this freezing weather that NIU begins to take on a remarkably pretty atmosphere. Winter may have come in a day, but it seems that everyone can still travel safely, and there are plenty of places to enjoy warm cups of coffee.

Angela Pagan

Let me start by saying I absolutely hate the cold. I am a Chicago native and still every year I dread winter. I am the person always complaining about how cold it is. That being said winter in DeKalb is even more difficult at the moment because it arrived so quickly and unexpectedly. It is only November! Yes, I was prepared for it to get colder, but what I was not expecting was 6 inches of snow out of nowhere. The fact this came so unexpectedly was truly inconvenient for me because the majority of my winter clothes are back home, and I usually do not go get them until we go on break. I know some people look outside and think, “oh my gosh how pretty!” or, “wow it’s a winter wonderland.” But unfortunately I am not one of those people. Do not get me wrong, I can appreciate the beauty of a light snowfall and a nice layer of white on the trees, but you know what else is beautiful? Sunlight. I love summer and spring and even autumn sometimes. I hate the layer of ice that is now covering just about every sidewalk I step on. Every time I step out my door I am literally gambling my life on whether or not my shoes have enough traction to keep me from slipping and cracking my head open on the pavement. Perhaps I am being dramatic, but this weekend’s weather was not welcome in my opinion.