My Winter Wonderland

Oh, Rexburg. Beautiful Rexburg. It is a good place to be. At this stage of the game, it's a pretty cold place to be as well. Our highs are around 5 degrees and our lows around -30. We also have a major phenomenon called windchill, which makes 5 degrees seem like -20. There are so many things about cold weather that are so incredibly annoying, but there are good things about it too. Let me go into detail about either side.

First, let me show you why it pretty much bites. When I am about to walk out the door after a good 50 minutes of hard core cycling, the lung-shattering cold is not welcome. I feel like I should be breathing deeply to catch my breath, but it hurts too much. So I grab a scarf--no big deal. I'll just cover my face with my scarf. Oh wait, too bad the moisture from your breath makes the scarf freeze to your face. At least your lungs are spared somewhat, right? I could just get help chiseling off the scarf from a cute boy or something. When I walk inside to get help from said cute boy, however, all of the stuff that has frozen inside my nose melts, resulting in embarrassing snot running like a tap out of my nose (which isn't super attractive). I guess that plan is shot. Also, for some reason, people don't shovel their sidewalks. Where I'm from, you could get in a lot of trouble with the law if someone were to slip on the sidewalk in front of your house. Here, they don't even bother with shoveling or with salt. It makes walking quickly to class a hazard. The university is really good about keeping the sidewalks shoveled, but anywhere else, you're on your own. I actually found out recently that BYU-Idaho and the Temple have heated sidewalks. Cool, huh? I always wondered how they could stay so on top of the snowfall.

The charms of Rexburg in the wintertime, on the other hand, are quite wonderful. Ice sculpting is a big part of Rexburg these days. There have been larger-than-life-size beakers made from snow outside the Romney Building (the science building), and people went out and spray painted lines to show the mL on the side of the glass. Another popular one is the big Buddah right outside the library. I was pretty impressed by the Buddah, so I thought I would get some shots of it. Unfortunately, the day after I took this picture, Buddah got beheaded. Sad day.

Another perk of all the ice is that President Clark has asked that the young men help the young women over the ice by providing a stabilizing arm. This is, in theory, a really great thing for everyone. Cute guy, cute girl, potential date, potential hook up, etc. It can get super awkward if it isn't the handsome, outgoing, knight in shining armor you were hoping for; but at least you're not going to fall on your tush.

Photography in the wintertime gets interesting. You have to be creative in order to get something beautiful. You can't count on the thing itself being beautiful (like flowers or cute furry animals), but you have to make it beautiful by the way you portray it. You learn how to take pictures of things that make the mundane seem extraordinary. My teacher thought that we were all gutsy in taking the class during the winter, but she said, "You'll learn how to get out of the ordinary beauty that everyone can see and get into the extraordinary beauty that not everyone can see." I am glad I took photography in the winter for this very reason.

Rexburg is my home. I love it here! All of the little quirks about the place just make it an adventure. It's a true fact that home is where you make it, and for now, I'm making mine in Rexburg, Idaho, home of BYU-Idaho.