Winter is the best time to be a law student.
When I’m at the library too late I chuck a few snowballs on the way home. It’s the best thing ever.
But be careful, the undergrads pick up on it too. Try not to start a snow fight.
Winter is the best time to be a law student.
When I’m at the library too late I chuck a few snowballs on the way home. It’s the best thing ever.
But be careful, the undergrads pick up on it too. Try not to start a snow fight.
I go to the library during off-hours and monopolize the power plugs:
The school is demolishing a building on/along the Washington Avenue bridge.
After taking a few pictures, I realized that standing right next to a partial bridge demolition (while on the bridge) is not a bright idea…
I finally uploaded the rest of the Bemidji trip photos.
One of the best libraries at the University of Minnesota is the Science & Engineering Library on the East Bank:
I forgot to mention the cat crap! The Mountaineering store by school had a box of “Cat Crap” on the counter:
It’s lens cleaner. I’ve never heard of it, but it sounds like the biggest brand-naming fail since Athlete’s Foot.
I finally broke down and bought a face mask.
Stella and I were walking home when the wind smacked us in the face. We stopped, had an “oh hell nah” moment, and went to the Mountaineering store near the law school.
I bought the face mask for $20 and a thermal hat and neck band for $2 each.
The low tonight is -20. According to the local news, tonight is Minneapolis’s coldest night in five years.
The news coverage of the weather is hilarious:
Perhaps all the national attention actually makes us content: The rest of you, you don’t know cold like we know cold. We’ve got salt. We’ve got snowplows. We’ve got stoicism. We can handle it.
The best part of the story was this:
Zielske, who likes to say she “married into this weather,” said her parents love calling her from Nevada to tell her the Twin Cities weather forecast.
“They’re more obsessed with my weather than I am,” she said. “They have no Minnesota connection — they were born and raised in British Columbia and then moved to the Pacific Northwest, and now they live in Las Vegas — but I think they like to gloat that they have a child who is managing to exist in what they consider this kind of deathly, unfriendly, inhuman terrain that we call home.”
My mother does that too! She lives in Miami but is always aware of the Minneapolis weather. She’ll call from the beach and ask, “Is it cold enough for ya?”
I still love Minnesota. Seriously. But tonight you can find me inside, in bed, under 4 blankets, wearing a sweater and two pairs of long johns.
Me (on phone): “Oh, it snowed about four inches today. I know because I’m looking at a table right now.”
I read the New York Times every morning in undergrad. The Times was available for free at the University of Miami dining halls.
The Gamma house has a Times subscription, but this winter the unread papers are amassing in the foyer. I breakfast with network news now.
The roads are iced over, the wind chill can reach to -30, and yet I still see bikers every day.
I’m not as bold. My bike has been parked in the basement for the past month. It’ll stay there until things have thawed.
The most surprising thing to about my first Minnesota winter isn’t the cold, but the darkness. These pictures are from around 5pm:
We were warned during orientation: “Winter is miserable. It’s dark when you go to school, and it’s dark when you come back.”
It doesn’t help that the law school classrooms are on a sub-level…
Summer was equally bizarre – when I first moved in August, I was surprised that the sky was still bright at 10pm.
But this isn’t exactly 30 Days of Night. The early nights are healthy. I go to bed earlier and get up earlier to maximize my daylight time. And clubbing? The sun sets at 5pm. Most clubhouses are empty until midnight. By that time it has been dark for 7 hours. No thanks.
Jamie studying the science of sleep.
I stopped walking and stood in front of the display, mouth agape.
Me: “You have to me shitting me.”
Jamie: “What?”
Me: “Oh hell nah. Come look at this!”
Jamie: “Nothing can shock me.”
Me: “CAMOUFLAGE LINGERIE?! What…why…who would ever…”
Jamie: “Welcome to Minnesota.”
