I grew up in a small town in, Minnesota. As senior year of high school winded down, my friends and I were trying to decide where we were going to head for the next four years of our lives.
While most of my friends ended up heading down south to escape the cold, I headed to Madison. The cold winters were not something I was intimidated by; I was used to them! I packed up and headed to Madison with everything I needed to stay warm in the winter.
Or at least I thought I did…
I never owned a pair of winter boots because I would always get a ride to school. My mom would drop me off right at the door, we would stay inside the entire day and then my mom would come pick me back up. So I wouldn’t need boots for college, right?
Wrong. Very wrong.
I learned this the hard way. The Madison campus is HUGE. Sometimes your classes are not close to one and other. Sometimes the busses are filled leaving you with absolutely no choice but to trek through the snow.
I vividly remember walking out of my dorm after the first snowfall having to walk up Bascom Hill in a pair of tennis shoes. I thought I would be completely fine…
My feet were absolutely soaked and I couldn’t feel them because they were so cold.
Needless to say I spent the entire lecture online shopping for a pair of warm winter boots. Trust me, bring boots.