True winter landscape hits North Carolina – were we still dreaming?

January 16, 2022, Boiling Springs, NC

By Dominika Burdová

Winter. What is the first thing that comes to your mind? I bet it’s snow. Little, bright white snowflakes falling from the sky patiently creating a blanket of snow. But we are in the lowlands of North Carolina, so this view people know most likely from pictures.

“If you want to make God laugh, tell him about your plans,” Woody Allen once said. If you were planning a round of golf with your friends, wearing a hoodie while walking outside or just going shopping, you were probably surprised in the morning on January 16 when you woke up – the whole Gardner-Webb University was covered with loads of snow!

Almost everybody was outside from the early morning. You could see the happy faces of people who didn’t expect anything like this, some of them were trying to build a snowman or took a challenge to walk to the cafeteria while making their way through the snow drifts. It was an incredible atmosphere. Everybody forgot the age – the inner child was on, enjoying this beautiful white gift called snow.

I come from Czech Republic, from a place in the mountains where snow is our everyday reality starting in November and ending in March. We have to deal with snow while going to school, going shopping or just driving a car. Almost everybody can ski, ice skate and at the end of December we also have our “white Christmas.” Everything is covered with snow, and we can barely imagine not having it during this magical time.

Living in North Carolina and not having snow in winter was a completely new experience for me, but since I am a lover of warm weather. I didn’t mind too much. However, seeing snow on Sunday morning reminded me of home in a really nice way, and I bet I wasn’t alone who had a picture of his or her home in mind.

Experiencing snow here at GWU was something totally different and new – I have to admit that I didn’t really expect it like most of the people so the lack of “winter gear” hit me as well. But even though we all were cold, the magical winter momentum was in the air – just being outside was a gift for all of us.

A winter scene in Czech Republic (Photos: Dominika Burdová)