Last month was just rated the hottest December on record, but for some University of Iowa out-of-state and international students, it was their coldest December yet.
Some of these students have never seen snow, experienced below-freezing temperatures, or endured dangerously frigid wind chill.
Alya Mohd, a second-year UI student, grew up in tropical Malaysia. Part of her reason for coming to the UI was to experience snow — which she said she had never seen before.
“I thought it was amazing; for me it was like a gorgeous miracle,” Mohd said. “I got really excited, and I went straight out to the parking lot and just played with the snow. I tried to make a snowman, but it was kind of hard to do.”
Mohd soon realized that snow does not stay beautiful for long. She said she was disappointed when the snow turned to ice and the cold grew more intense.
And it wasn’t just the cold that shocked her. Mohd said she was also surprised by how hot the summers get in Iowa.
“You have to check the weather, which I never had to do back at home,” Mohd said. “Now I have to check to see if it’s going to be too hot or too cold, so that’s one of the things that’s hard to adapt for me.”
Amara Nelson has also had to adapt to the cold climate. The UI freshman is from Houston, where the temperatures rarely drop below freezing.
“I’m missing Texas a lot right now,” Nelson said. “It’s a great school, and I love my friends, but winter is killing me. It’s a harsh adjustment; my body is not used to it at all.”
Austin Hughes, a friend of Nelson’s, is from Arlington, Texas. He said he’s rarely seen a white Christmas, and if the roads get icy in Texas, the public schools close down.
As for winter gear, Nelson needed only a coat and gloves in Texas. Now she is equipped with numerous coats, gloves, hats, scarves, and a pair of thermal underwear, which she said she is thankful her mother thought to get her.
Harishma Sidhu bought all her winter gear over Thanksgiving break. Sidhu is a freshman from Irvine, California, near Anaheim, where the temperature rarely approaches freezing.