Northwestern freshmen navigate midwestern winter

A+thin+layer+of+ice+covers+the+lake+due+to+the+recent+subzero+temperatures.

Lalla-Aicha Adouim/The Daily Northwestern

A thin layer of ice covers the lake due to the recent subzero temperatures.

Lalla-Aicha Adouim, Reporter

Although Evanston’s Health and Human Services Department issued a cold weather advisory about freezing temperatures on Feb. 6, Northwestern freshmen are still venturing out for food and building snowmen.

“I don’t get cold. It doesn’t bother me,” Weinberg freshman Yulan Guo said. “I just wear a jacket and I walk three times a day to Norris.”

A steady stream of snow has covered campus the past week, with temperatures falling below 0 degrees Fahrenheit. On-campus asymptomatic testing was temporarily suspended Monday due to the harsh weather. A New Jersey native, Guo is accustomed to low temperatures. She has been frustrated when the cold air freezes her hair when she goes out after a shower.

Guo said she doesn’t get excited about the snow and finds it annoying when people do, considering it snows frequently in Evanston.

However, her roommate, Communication freshman Lola Selby, disagrees. When it first started snowing, the Los Angeles native said she felt like a little kid.

“I woke up a little bit early on the weekend and I was still in my pajamas,” Selby said. “I looked outside… like you see in movies, when the kid presses their face up against the video, and says, ‘Oh my god.’”

The cold was still, ultimately, a shock for Selby, especially since she is used to the warmth of California.

“When I’m in the shower, I feel like I’m getting ready for a sprint,” she said.“I have some long, thermal underwear coming in the mail to hopefully up my game a little bit.”

Although Selby said she walks faster outside to keep her heart rate up, a trip to Target leaves her grumpy for the rest of the day, which means she spends as much time inside as possible. However, she said the snow has not affected her social life, as she spends time with the people in her dorm and in Norris.

McCormick and Communication dual-degree freshman Lia Chung said she has taken the snow as an excuse to showcase different outfits, including turtlenecks layered under sweater vests.

The Georgia native prefers the cold over sweating in the heat and still walks from North Campus to South to meet friends nearly everyday.

“The only annoying part is when I wear makeup and there is ice on my eyelashes,” Chung said.

As the snow continues to freeze Selby’s ears and ankles, her first Midwestern winter has made her feel like she’s expanding into “five new arenas” of life, she said.

“The cold is a good way to stamp these new memories in my mind,” Selby said. “I like having such sharp visceral feelings to accompany all this new stuff. I’m living it for the story.”

Email: [email protected]

Twitter: @lallaadouim

Related Stories: 

Evanston groups host inaugural winter games   

 Residential colleges continue remote activities despite many students on campus for Winter Quarter   

Health and Human Services department issues cold weather advisory