Coming from California, I’ve only seen large amounts of snow a couple times in my life. Last year was the first time I’d seen snow in about ten years. And this year, we were treated with our first Snow Day this past week.

I woke up early Tuesday morning to the sound of my roommate frantically running down our apartment stairs. When I finally raised myself from bed, I was greeted with the reason for their frantic running. This was the view from our Olympic Heights back porch:

Throughout the last few days of snow, there’s been children sledding down the slopes in our backyard, I’ve nearly slipped on ice many times, and I also got to enjoy a class-free day. Tuesdays are usually my busiest days, where I arrive on campus around 9:30am for my main program, SOS: Culture, Community and Disability and I end up staying until around 8pm for my 4 credit class, Chinese II. And although I missed seeing my classmates, it was nice to have an unexpected break.

I used this unexpected break as a chance to catch up on homework, but also as an opportunity to engage in some activities around Olympia. Treating myself to a Discount Tuesday $5 movie (which I’m usually too busy to indulge in), I walked the ten minutes it takes to get from my apartment complex to the mall, where I watched the recently-released Black Panther.

Needless to say, the movie was amazing. It was a treat; including a taste from home, Oakland being one of the plot settings, a majority black cast with strong female characters, politically aware dialogue, and engaging cinematography. I left feeling emotional, inspired and grateful.

When I got back to my apartment, I eventually raved so much about the movie that my roommates and I all went back to see it a second time that day. (This was interluded by a soak in our apartment hot tub and more homework).

It wound up being a relaxed day, with some highly needed self care time, especially as Week 7 of the quarter comes to a close.