Warm climate students cope with cold weather

A new down coat, long johns and several longsleeve shirts later, Liz Spears, 19, came 3,000 miles from her warm home in San Francisco, Calif., to Norwich University in snowy, cold Vermont.

When Spears's mom told her she needed to buy new clothes to be prepared for Vermont weather, she responded with, "Are you kidding me?"

Many students at Norwich University travel thousands of miles from their homes with year-round warm weather. Some have never seen snow, and have to prepare for nearly a whole school year of cold.

Spears, a sophomore English major, has to drive about five hours from her home towards the mountains to see snow. "I live pretty much on the coast so it's sunny, warm and rarely cold," Spears said.

Jackie Perez, an 18-year-old freshman business management major from San Diego, Calif., transitioned from hanging outside all the time to seeing up to 25 inches of snow.

"I didn't really know what to expect when I came here," Perez said. "I just knew it was going to be cold."

"Normally the coldest (back home) is in the 40's or 50's," Perez said.

"I had never seen snow before I came here," said Christopher Denton, an 18-year-old communications major from Fort Lauderdale, Fla. "I was very excited when I first saw it. I ran outside and was playing in it."

Sasha Johannes, a 20-year-old sophomore athletic training and health science major from Orlando, Fla., saw her first snowfall three years ago.

"I went to prep school in Lake Placid, N.Y.," Johannes said. "I was for sure excited. I was just standing there and watching it come down. I was so pumped."

Johannes found it hard to prepare for low temperatures and to purchase proper winter clothing in Florida.

"It was hard because there was nothing to buy in Florida," Johannes said. "My first winter was really bad. I had to borrow clothes and shoes."

The winter weather quickly became old for Johannes, especially because of the storm at the end of February.

"It was all sunny out and I was getting excited because I thought spring was coming," Johannes said. "All of a sudden it snowed. I sat in my room and was depressed."
"I wanted to go home and go to the beach," Johannes said.

Keira Holmes, a 20-year-old junior business major from Los Angeles, Calif., also had to adjust to cold Vermont weather when she came to Norwich her freshman year.

"We have three seasons back home," Holmes said. "We have summer, rain and spring. There's snow only if you go up to the mountains."

Some students come to Vermont because they want to have a new experience, while others come for athletic or academic reasons.

"I was okay with leaving my mom and my family and having a different lifestyle than I would at home," Holmes said. "(At home,) you could go to the beach whenever and hang outside all the time."

Perez came to Vermont to play on the women's hockey team.

"(Hockey) is a lot bigger over here," Perez said. "There are few girls teams back home, so we would usually play with the boys," she said.    

Perez now spends her winters at Kreitzberg Arena instead of hanging out with friends in warm California weather.

"I think I actually get more work done because I don't want to be outside," Johannes said. "When I'm home, I'm outside all the time, but when I'm here I have no desire to really be outside. It's too cold."

Denton is used to being outside, playing football and lacrosse during this time of the year in Florida.

"I want to go outside but it's cold and I don't feel like throwing on four pairs of pants and three shirts all the time," Denton said.

While home on break, some of these warm-weather natives have to get used to the difference in climate.    

"When I went home, (for winter break) I remember driving and I was like, ‘It's so hot,' and I thought it was 100 degrees," Perez said. "But it was only 70."

"When I go home, especially over Thanksgiving and winter break, it's balmy," Spears said. "I used to think 60 degree weather was cold, and now it's warm."

"For the first month or so (of summer vacation), my blood is still thick so I get a lot hotter than everyone else," Holmes said. "And in the winter, I stay warmer."

But, since Holmes does not go home for spring break, the winter weather and snow can cause depression.

"I go from going home in December and seeing sunshine and having really nice weather to several months of no sunshine, stuck in the snow," Holmes said. "Lots of depression when there's no sunshine."

"I'll tell you right now, I'm sick and tired of looking at snow. I'd rather be at home," Spears said. "It's just nicer (weather) back home than it is here."

There is one week that students from warm places anticipate; spring break. It gives them an escape from cold Vermont.

"First thing during spring break, I'm going to Cocoa Beach," said Johannes.