Snow Much Fun

I was featured on Arcadia University’s instagram a few weeks ago. Here’s the story behind that snowy, crazy scene.

Besides the Castle, Haber Green is probably the most recognizable place at Arcadia. It’s a giant green field in the middle of the campus, with a trimmed “AU” hedge. A row of trees—set near the hedge, on the side of the Dining Complex and a few residence halls—marks a somewhat steep hill on the green. The hill is fun to walk up, run down, lay on; but when that grass is covered by fluffy white snow, the hill becomes our go-to place for another wildly fun activity: sledding.

I was not on campus for the first few snows of winter (now that I think about it, I had not seen snow for a whole year). When I was little, every time it snowed I was always outside helping my parents shovel the driveway and sidewalk. After, we would exchange the shovels for sleds. Growing up on the beach, sand dunes were plentiful, which were my version of hills; but occasionally we would drive off-shore with my parents to get some serious velocity.

As I got older, the sleds got too small, and my parents got less limber. Snow became a great way to get off school, but a pain to go out and shovel. My interest in sledding and snow became a thing of the past. When I went to London, with no snow in sight, I relied on my mom to send videos of snow falling around my house. The videos started to rekindle my love for snow, and I was eager to get back and hopefully see some in Glenside.

I imagined myself wearing my snow clothes, sliding down the white-covered hill on my sled, with the cold and frosty wind biting my face. But this time, my imagination didn’t do it justice. It was around 9:30 p.m. on Feb. 12, and I had finally finished the paper for my Criminal Justice class. I went to work out with my friend Eli, finished around 11 p.m., and walked outside to snow blanketing the ground and people sledding.  

I suggested to Eli that we should go sledding, too. But there was only one problem: We didn’t have sleds. We searched Knight Hall for items that could serve as sleds. I suggested we use my storage bins’ lids; Eli jokingly offered to break down a cardboard box. I then saw my spare mattress laying on the ground. Could this be the sledding nirvana we were searching for?

Eli and I, along with our friend Spencer, carried the mattress out of the room, down the stairs, and past the civility flag, spotting our RA inside the dining complex. Afraid of being caught, we took our comfy sled behind Taylor Hall to the hills near the Dome and tried it out. Eli and I went first. While it was a slow trip down, it was a blast. More of our friends joined in.

Around 11:30, we headed for the hill on Haber Green. This was a lot steeper, which made it even more enjoyable. But we kept getting more creative. We sled in reverse, sideways, with as many as we could fit on the mattress—and my personal favorite: surfing.

As the snow kept falling, my shoes got soaked and my hands felt the freeze. But before heading inside, we wound down with a photoshoot and somehow snagged a selfie with a patrol guard. He also took a group picture of us, and in that picture you could see that no matter how cold it was, how wet our shoes were, or how tired we felt, our unplanned night of bed sledding left us exhilarated. My image of fun in the snow is forever changed.