Bring on the Cold... Again

After spending childhood in Maine and college at BU, I vowed to never put myself through another New England winter. California called, and I took off for the ‘best’ coast ready for the land of perpetual sunshine and sandals.

Naturally, I ended up in Seattle. That didn’t last. I made it to California eventually, but not before living in Sun Valley, Idaho where the sun shines 364 days a year and lack of humidity keeps the bone-chilling, Boston-like bitterness at bay. There, through copious amounts of sun, skiing, and hot toddies, I learned the joys of winter. When I finally moved to California, I had the best of both worlds: winter weekends in Tahoe and summer days in San Francisco.

I have come to realize that weather dictates most of my life, even graduate school. After three years of PR exploits, western adventures, and economic challenges, the time to return to academia had come. Wouldn’t you know the most appealing program was back at BU. A California school was out of the question - I wouldn’t accomplish a thing. Knowing the essentialness of time-management and self-motivation to academic achievement, my inability to study while the sun shines and the warm breeze blows posed too great a threat. Even here, the Charles, twinkling with the last rays of summer sun, begs for my attention. Luckily, soon, all will be well. The sun will stop shining, the birds will stop chirping, and frost will descend, releasing its mighty grip only as spring exams near.

I feel brilliant for re-choosing BU. Exemplary academics mixed with long, depressing winters create my perfect prescription for success. Sometimes to move forward in life, you have to go back to where you started – in my case, to a cold, New England winter.