Winter is (un) Officially Here

Although Winter doesn't officially start until December 22nd, it certainly doesn't feel like fall anymore. During the past few weeks I was treated to classic fall scenes like the following:




Not anymore. At the moment, Durham looks nothing like the above pictures. Nearly all the yellow and orange leaves have fallen from the trees, leaving only skeletal remains.

It's not just the leaves, or lack thereof that make it feel like winter. It's also properly cold now. People have stopped chiding me for shivering, and remind me "oh it's going to get much worse, if you're cold now..." far less often. Even the locals are rarely seen in T-Shirts these days. It hasn't snowed yet, but I don't think the first snow is far off. It has certainly been cold enough to snow. The rain has picked up quite a bit, and we had two weeks of Soccer matches canceled in a row, before finally playing a match last Saturday.

I rarely go outside now without long underwear, gloves and a jacket (and obviously an umbrella). Of course as I write about all this doom and gloom, it's sunny and in the high 40's today, so it's not always terrible.

While it seems that we've transitioned into Winter, that doesn't mean Fall's greatest holiday has been forgotten- Thanksgiving! Of course, it's not celebrated or even really known about here. One of my friends admitted she'd only even heard about it from watching Friends. But, this does not mean I will miss Thanksgiving this year. The University of California is putting on a Thanksgiving dinner this Saturday in Edinburgh, for all the California students anywhere in Northern England and Scotland (not just Durham). While I'll miss being home with family for thanksgiving (the first time I've ever been away for the holiday) it'll still be nice to get some turkey and pumpkin pie.

All for now,

Gabe