There’s no snow yet, but the wind chill in Chicago this past week forced me to arm myself in layers before daring to venture out for a cup of coffee. Ten steps into my short walk, I’m already regretting my decision to get out of the house. My eyes began to tear up as if in protest of the brutal weather. It’s okay, though, because I’m a seasoned veteran of the cold now, seven and a half years since I left the mild winters of Egypt.
In Egypt, since most of life is geared to combat the heat, there is not much done to prepare for winter. There’s plenty of cover to provide shade and many places come with AC. The winters feel much colder because there’s no proper heating system indoors. As a kid, I had no frame of reference outside of the winters in Egypt and used to think that winters in Egypt were harsh and unbearable.
You can imagine, then, that for my first winter at Calvin, I was ill prepared. It’s one thing for someone to tell you what sub-freezing temperatures feels like and then it’s another thing to experience it firsthand.
After that first winter out of Egypt, I stopped complaining.
I was probably procrastinating and doing everything but being productive when my friend told me to look outside. A quick peek—and I remember seeing campus blanketed in soft white snow. It didn’t take much convincing for me to step outside, clad in a winter coat that I had just added to my closet that year. Snowballs were thrown, hands were frozen, and hearts were full as I enjoyed my first real snowfall. I made snow angels and had fun despite myself. I’m sure to some people looking, I may have seemed a tad bit over-exuberant, but they wouldn’t have known it was my first time feeling, touching, and tasting snow.
A couple years post-grad now, I’ve settled into a daily routine that brings comfort but also some degree of monotony. Waking up for the gym, blending my smoothie, making my coffee—these rituals define my days, blurring into weeks and months. As the new year approaches, my aspiration is to break free from this routine and find and seek more of these “first snow” moments that inject novelty and excitement into life.
Parker Yeo graduated from Calvin University with a B.S. in accounting in 2020 with a minor in international relations. He earned a master of accounting degree from the Ohio State University in 2021. Originally from Cairo, Egypt, he is currently residing in Chicago. In his free time, he likes to exercise, watch soccer highlights, and scroll aimlessly through TikTok.
