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Ever since I can remember I have hated rainy days. Rainy days are gloomy, messy, and just downright depressing. Luckily, we don’t have to deal with many of those in Miami, considering that we get our 15-30 minutes of thunderstorms every day, and the occasional bad day, but they usually subside pretty quickly. In Wisconsin however, its a different ballgame. When it rains here, its not like at home, it rains and rains just enough to annoy you. Enough to get you sick or keep you sick essentially.

Since I woke up yesterday, it has been raining. It was the same today, until just a few minutes ago when it got cold enough for it to snow. Yup, from the annoying drizzle to snow, that’s Wisconsin for you; so erratic.

Last weekend I went skiing for the first time. It was only for around 3 hours, but due to the falling, rolling, ski popping and pain, it seemed like much longer. However that night I managed to make it down the easiest slope without falling once. There was no real snow that night, just fake icy snow that had been made by the machines. That icy snow made it super slippery to go down, which is why at the end of the night when the easy trail was closed and we were forced to take the blue trail, I slipped on an icy patch and somersaulted around 20 feet while both my skis flew off in different directions. On the way home and for several days after my body was in pain. However, I did decide to make the trip there again this week when our dorm was going.

Today’s (well yesterday technically 2-21-09) was completely different. This time there was actual snow since it snowed about 8 inches and was still snowing as we we skied down the slopes. The real snow made it a lot better and easier since there were fewer icy patches in which to loose your balance. However,…enter the snowboarder complaints…the snowboarders’ plow marks and super packed trails made their own nice gashes and packed down icy patches for one to fall and or get a ski caught in.

I started my day by going down the easy slope, which was fun now, since I could do it without falling. After a few runs we decided to step up the challenge a little, and try the blue from last week. That didn’t go well, at least the first time. Thanks to the snowboarders making a path to the rails on the side, there was this big gash of snow. Without realizing it I went that way and made it through the first bump, but as I came down the ski got stuck on the other bump since the skis are much longer than the width of the gash. I tumbled down, got up quickly and made it down. I went up the chairlift again and once again headed for that blue. While on the chairlift I looked at the slope making note of where the dangers were . This time I used one of the chairlift supports as my marker for the gash. I headed towards it and avoided the gash, raced down the slope and made it down without falling several times. Once again my friend Tyler decided that it was time for bigger and greater things so he convinced us to try a black diamond that was coming off of the beginning of the easy trail. This one was a narrow zigzagging path through a bunch of tightly packed hills. I went through and fell once I hit this ice patch midway through the run, which caused be to not be able to make the next turn. Tyler had jumped over the hill I crashed into and lost one of his ski’s. After a few minutes of looking he found it buried in the snow a few feet away. I tried this run several more times, however I wasn’t able to master it. In fact one of the times I went down it I tripped on my stick and hurt my knee and thumb in the process. It wasn’t that bad of an injury; my thumb feels fine, and my knee hurts a bit when I walk. We went down another black diamond in which I wiped out the first time. The second time going down the same one I took note of the terrain and avoided the bad spots. I was able to make it down without falling.

After some time I met up with Sebastian, Miles, Fro, and Chris, who had been doing their own thing going through the woods. I decided to join them and give it a try, but large skis and the woods don’t go together. Everyone else had been wearing the snow skates (smaller skis) which are more maneuverable, which allowed them to turn better in the woods. That ended in failure for me, causing me to crash into several trees and eventually wipe out as I jumped out of the woods into the run.

Nevertheless, despite the minor injuries skiing was much funner the second time around. Once you know what you are doing it really becomes fun. The nearly 5 hours we spent at Tyrol Basin today flew by very fast. I love skiing.

Last night my neighbors and I went sledding down the hill next to Elizabeth Waters Hall. The side on this picture isn’t that steep, but the one closer to the dorm is. Not only that, but it also has bumps along the way, which make it quite exciting, painful, and difficult to stay on your tray. To that add the few people carelessly walking down the same path we’re sledding over, and the fact that it is a paved path that has been cleaned and you essentially risk injury every time you go over it. Nevertheless, it is a very fun and worthwhile experience, even if you can’t feel your face, butt, or hands and you return home all wet and covered in snow.

More Liz Waters Snow Pictures

It looks like this week is going to be full of snow. Tyler, my neighbor is thinking that classes might even be cancelled. I highly doubt that a little wind and snow, with perhaps foot deep accumulation is enough to cancel classes. Anyways, it was snowing today so I decided to take a quick video of it, even though you can’t really see the snow falling cause it was already getting somewhat dark outside.

Yes, I was corny enough to use “Wizards of Winter” as the background music for this!!!

I’ve been feeling sick th last couple of days. I’ve had a runny nose, slight fever, body aches, and stomach aches every once in a while. Everything short of puking my guts out basically. I intended to go yesterday…I suppose by now it will technically be the day before yesterday (November 29th)…to the mall to return a few things I had purchased but ended up deciding that I really didn’t like, or just didn’t work, but it never happened. After staying sickly couped up all day Saturday I decided to give it another shot on Sunday. So on Saturday night I had planned to wake up at 10 AM the next day and make my way to the mall, but after waking up at 8 AM to turn off my room mate’s alarm, waking up at 10 AM to turn off my own alarm, I decided to just sleep in and forgo my expedition. So I thought until around 1 PM when I hear a knock on my door. I managed to toss myself out of bed and open the door, not being able to see anything due to blood rushing into or out of my head (I can’t remember which of the two it is that blacks out your vision for a few seconds). All I hear is “good morning,” and I instantly recognize the voice as Jen. I welcome her in, and we start talking and watching some TV. I started feeling better and soon ask her what she has planned for the day so that she can join me on my trip to the mall. She agrees to go with me so I go shower and start getting ready as she watches the packers game.

While I showered Tyler got back from his trip home, so we tried to convince him to come along with us, but he refused. He did provide some important facts, mainly that we were supposed to get a few inches of snow today. I was so excited, I would finally get to wear the boots and coat I had bought last weekend. I put on my thermally insulated boots, my thick parka, my scarf, and my funny hat and I was set to go into the deepest, coldest corners of the earth. We passed by Steenbock library to return the Mac I had checked out while I fixed my computer, which was 2 days overdue by now (ouch $40 fine), but the library wouldn’t open until 5PM for some reason, so I had to lug around the damn thing.

We made efficient use of our time, and managed to catch the bus headed in the proper direction. Once we got to the west transfer point however, we had some trouble. We boarded the wrong bus, but soon noticed and got off, then we had to walk all they way back to the transfer point. By now about 1 inch of snow had fallen, so Jen and I started to throw snowballs at each other as we walked/ran to the transfer point. We made it back and shortly the correct bus arrived. We boarded and withing 15 minutes we were at the mall. I returned the pea coat at American Eagle, then we headed to grab a bite to eat. Of all the places I chose Sobarro’s, which normally has good pizza…that was not the case today. We got reheated slices of stale pizza which must have been laying there for hours, and some baked ziti which wasn’t all that good either. After downing my $6 crap meal we made out way to Walmart, which was a few blocks away. Outside it was windy and snowing, by now there was much more snow on the ground than when we had gone in. Once again we started our snowball fight, which continued all they way to Walmart and back, and concluded with a snowball in my face, which got stuck on the nose ridge of my glasses.

After I got out of Chemistry on Monday night, it was snowing again. This time it seemed to be snowing more than earlier the same day. By the time I got back to the dorm, my entire front side was covered in snow, as I walked my face had gotten pummeled wave after windy wave with snow.

There was about one millimeter of snow on the ground, so my roommate and I decided to go out and have a snowball fight. It was fun considering how little snow there was.

I haven’t really left my room today because I’ve been studying for a Chemistry exam I have later today. I just opened my curtains to crack the window a bit to let the smell of ramen escape my room, and was surprised to see the ground covered in snow. Anyways, back to chemistry for me.

wintry mix

Originally uploaded by lableupunn_tux

WTF is wintry mix?!?!? Since having arrived in Madison, my list of weather jargon has had to expand, where it was once composed of 8 terms (sunny, cloudy, party cloudy, showers, scattered thunderstorms, thunderstorms, and hurricane) it now house a myriad of of new winter related terms. Until recently I had never before witnessed “rain” as an actual weather phenomena, we have “showers.” However, there is a big difference, rain is annoying, lingers around all day, and is just enough to annoy the hell out of you. Showers on the other hand do their thing and subside. So what is a wintry mix then? I suppose since the temperature is above freezing, it must involve rain, some mushy snow, and flurry. Yes, “flurry” is also a new term. Think of it as a McDonald’s McFlurry, mushy snow with rain. Snow time is definitely approaching.

snowflake

Originally uploaded by lableupunn_tux

I suppose I’ll make my first post giddy with excitement about winter. While it was utterly cold yesterday. Well, at least colder than what I am used to, there was snow. Real snow this time, not the slush that has been falling for the past couple of days. This time it was cold enough for the snowflakes to solidify and form shapes. Mind you, this is the first time I’ve ever seen one. The shapes they form are amazing , you can’t help but admire nature’s beauty. I couldn’t help it, I had to take a picture, a bad one at that since my phone can’t focus on nearby things. Unfortunately this photo doesn’t fully capture the beauty of that snowflake.

With that out of the way, yesterday was quite interesting as I attempted another trip to the suburbs. Unlike my trip on Saturday, I actually made it to the correct place (Super Walmart). However, after finding myself in possibly one of the worst neighborhoods in Madison, I can’t help but to have second thoughts about my trip. Perhaps I shouldn’t have ventured somewhere I’ve never been and know nothing about by myself. It sort of tells you something when you have the fairest skin in the bus, and look completely out of place. Nevertheless, I ventured on and got what I needed. Getting back now proved to be more difficult, Walmarts are so different up north, the parking lot is in the basement, and the only part of the store that has an exit/entrance at ground level is the garden. Which, if you are not accustomed to it can be quite confusing, especially if you have 10 minutes to catch a bus. Needless to say, I got lost. The walmart had people escalators and shopping cart escalators (really cool, I would have taken a picture, but I would have looked like a retard) which lead to the underground parking garage. That exit was on the other side of where I needed to be, it was dark out already, and I was in a bad part of town. So I proceeded to gather by bags and walk with them to where I had gotten off of the bus. As I got there, the bust I thought I was supposed to get on was leaving. It was a good thing it left however, because that would have taken me in the wrong direction. I walked around a bit, trying to find the correct bus stop on the proper side of the street (not used to public transportation), while carrying my heavy bags. Soon enough, after walking a bit, I had found the bus stop, all that was left was to wait for the bus in 27 degree weather in the dark by myself. As I waited, every time I hard a rustle I would prepare myself for the worst, but soon enough the bus came and I was on my way back to campus.