Today was one of those days where you walk outside your house and
want to literally turn right back around and not come out for the rest
of the day. I was so close to doing this, so close! I got a text from
Josh letting me know that it was raining a little bit outside so I might
want an umbrella or something. I thought, okay sweet, and got my stuff
and headed out the door. The first thing I hear -- a couple of yelps and
laughing. The first thing I see -- people falling all down our street.
It was 20 degrees and drizzling causing EVERYTHING to be frozen over. I
had my snow boots on and I still doubted if I would even be able to get
to campus. Well, I took one step, and I was fine. I took two steps and I
was fine (holding on to the car as I made my way down the driveway) and
step three, well that was the end. I completely fell down our driveway
right onto my knees! Ouch. It hurt so bad and I hate ice so much I
kinda just wanted to cry right there. I got up, brushed myself off and
just stared down the street for a solid minute. I
really wanted to turn around and not make the trek up to campus.
But,
I had classes to go to and work to get done. So I set out on my
journey. About 2 minutes into the walk I came across this cute girl,
dressed in a skirt and fashionable boots. I could tell she was
struggling and that she needed help to get over the frozen snow mound
blocking her from crossing the street. I took her arm, and helped her
over. I had no idea who she was, but we became friends at that moment as
we locked arms and continued on our journey. She explained that she was
from China and had never experienced this kind of weather before. I
told her neither had I and that it definitely was not normal. She
continued to tell me how she already fell that morning and was scared to
death to fall again. She had hit her head and scrapped up her arm
pretty good. The poor thing did not even have gloves or tights on. So I
held her up as we made the journey to her class. A walk that usually
takes me 10 minutes took me 30! It was incredible, and slow and
something I had never witnessed before. People were falling everywhere!
And when I finally made it to class, I noticed for the first time that
my backpack and coat were completely soaked. I was too busy focusing on
my feet to have noticed.
I heard many, many stories
about people's adventures in the ice. Some people got concussions, some
broke laptops in their backpack, some broke limbs, some had blood
streaming from their face (Josh saw this one), and many had bruised
bums, legs and arms. I was astonished that BYU did not close down campus
and I still think they should have. But it made for quite the adventure
today. I made a new friend, broke my record of never falling on ice or
snow at BYU (shame, I worked so hard) and saw lots of fun ice skating
moves that I hope to never see again unless I am ice skating.
Check
this video out and you will get an idea of what my day was like.