The biggest difference I have faced so far is the most expected, and anticipated one. The most common change people warned me about, yet the one I feel I could not do enough preparing for. The weather. Coming from a place averaging seventy degrees year-round, I knew the change would be a big one, but not one I expected to happen so suddenly and so early on in the year. I am still mentally preparing myself for the idea of a snowing winter, but these thirty degree days in October and November were not something I was expected. I still haven’t even bought a winter coat, something I planned on doing during Thanksgiving break, before WINTER actually happened. I have learned quickly that was a large mistake. I wake up in the morning to a solid thirty something degrees, when all of my eighteen years living in San Diego I do not think I ever experienced colder than maybe forty five degrees on a cold morning. The other difference I found quite early on that I am not used to is the actual idea of seasons! This is something that many people would laugh at or could just be in shock about, as something they have always experienced. Like I said earlier, and I am sure will continue to mention, in San Diego, one of the few places in the country with a very bland weather choice, almost all 365 days of the year are within twenty degrees of the perfect seventy degree day. Reaching not more than ninety five on the warmest days, and hardly ever lower than fifty on the coldest, I knew the slightest move would be a drastic one in regard to weather. So rather than the slightest change, I moved thousands of miles into the middle of Pennsylvania, which most of my friends would not even consider largely because of the intense weather change. Coming here to Penn State, I anxiously waited for my first time experiencing some of these changes. Seeing leaves change colors, watching them fall as it gets colder, and eventually seeing snow on the ground! I still remember my roommate, who is also from San Diego, and I walking outside and seeing all of the leaves no longer green! These trees in themselves were different then the palm trees that we would usually find around home. These huge trees, many of which I have never seen before, are doing something I have always seen on TV and wanted to experience for myself, and now I am! My friends have already received countless snapchats of the leaves and their numerous different colors! Something none of us have actually gotten to experience before. I soon learned this gorgeous experience is a short one. Walking to school this week I found the leaves were not as pretty, and many of the trees now bare. Though this process is definitely not as pretty, it is still something I have never experienced before! It is so odd to see trees without any leaves on them. Not only are these visible changes things I am starting to become more and more familiar with, but the ones that I am begging to experience are ones I am learning through feeling them, rather than seeing them. The cold weather requires a lot more supplies than I originally anticipated. Coming to Pennsylvania, I lacked most of the things that people would normally not give a second thought. As I have learned through the taunting of friends who all grew up with cold weather, my wardrobe is not one fit for the soon to be freezing conditions. For the first time in my life I have started to look at things such as gloves, scarfs, beanies, and winter jackets. All things I would normally find cute in outfits, but never had the chance to fit into my own wardrobe. That is one thing I definitely am looking forward to! Even though everyone continues to tell me I will be completely over the cold in just a week. Hopefully I can last longer than that, but I am really not sure yet. I guess I will find out soon enough. Another change, and one of the less obvious ones that people do not warn you about is the change in plans you have to make. I have never really had to think too hard about the weather when deciding what to do during the day. Here it seems like plans must be altered in accordance to the weather. Something I find so odd. Little things such as having to take an uber to my plans even if it is a walkable distance, simply because I know I would be far too cold walking in this weather. There are many little things I would not usually give a second thought to I now have to consider, and vice versa with the typical things such as a change in leaves that people who are used to the cold are so familiar with. Though it was the change I was and continue to fear the most, I am also excited to actually be experiencing these seasons!

Urenko, Cayley, and Courtney Taylor. “Campus Tour Guides Explain the Difficulties of Recruiting during the Cold Winter Months.” The Daily Collegian, 25 Feb. 2019, www.collegian.psu.edu/news/campus/article_a8efb994-3896-11e9-aa14-7f83a42e1ea3.html.