Week 8- Weather
After having our first taste of spring over the past couple days here at Colgate, this week we are talking about weather. Weather is variable, some places get four season, some get two. Around the globe, seasons mean something entirely different to everyone. Snow, rain, sun, or wind, tell us about the weather where you are. Are there often fluctuations from day to day or does your abroad location offer a consistent weather pattern throughout the day. Do you find yourself missing the weather at home or do you find your new locations weather a much nicer change of pace? What is the general consensus from the locals about their weather, do they love it or hate it?
Sierra DeAngelo
I have been pleasantly surprised by the weather here in London! Although I do love a good rain storm, there have been relatively few gloomy days and quite a few sunny, warm(ish) days, especially in the past month. All the cherry blossom trees throughout London blossomed recently, which has breathed new life into the city. Essentially it has felt like early-spring in New York since February here. It has flurried a couple of times but I don’t know that I would even classify that as snow because it never sticks. I am not complaining, though! I had my winter wonderland fix during November/December while I was still in the tundra known as Upstate NY. The wind is what gets me here! The weather app will tell me it is in the mid-50s but then I step outside and the wind chill makes it feel much cooler out. Additionally, the weather occasionally changes drastically midday. Recently I was making my way to a lunch date when all of a sudden the wind picked up and it started raining. Rain quickly turned into HAIL that was so harsh I felt I was being impaled. Needless to say, I arrived at lunch resembling a wet cat. All things considered, I have felt quite happy about the weather here. Even on colder days, the skies are often blue and sunny. I am really looking forward to lots of picnics in London’s gorgeous parks as the temperatures continue to rise over the next couple months!
Emily Weaver
In Iceland, the weather is always changing. Sometimes it feels like you are never prepared for what is coming. The mornings can be grey and rainy, but then the afternoons turn out to be beautiful blue skies. One day we began a hike in a cold, rainy drizzle, but by the time we reached the end of our hike we had shed our outer layers because the sun was out in full force! It can make planning what to wear very hard. By the end of my time there I got used to the change in weather and made sure that I always had some sort of rain protection in case a brief rain shower rolled in. Even though there was this unpredictable aspect to the weather it was also very stable. When I got to Iceland in August they were just coming out of their summer and headed into winter. I think we got our first taste of snow around the first week of September and then we got an even bigger snow storm in late September. The locals are used to this though. Not once did the towns we were in come to a standstill because of the weather. They are accustomed to these fluctuations and are ready to go about their normal everyday lives. In a lot of ways this was similar to Hamilton, we’re used to snow so it has to be really bad for the weather to stop us.
I think the biggest thing I noticed about the weather actually had nothing to do with precipitation or lack thereof. Instead it had to do with the sun. In the later months of my stay in Iceland the days got shorter. I know what you’re thinking, I live in New York, I should be used to this and, to a certain extent, I was. But the lack of sun in the winter months is so much more pronounced in Iceland, especially in the North. The North of Iceland is dominated by fjords. These mountains work to block out any of the sun that peeks out from behind the clouds. Often we would find that it was just starting to get light out around 10:30 in the morning and then the sun would set behind the mountains by around 3:30 in the afternoon. This definitely limited our amount of sunlight, but it gave us access to some beautiful sunrises and sunsets!
Trey Spadone
The weather in Bali is certainly different from the weather in Hamilton, NY.
Here some thoughts and observations about the weather…
So many aspects of life here take place outside and it has been an upwards of 80 degrees Fahrenheit every single day. This means that my New England conditioned body is hot 99% of the time. At first, I thought I would never get used to perpetually being a sweaty boy, but two months later it has become the status quo.
Indonesia has two seasons: dry and wet. It is currently the wet season and it has rained a fair amount. However, the rain is often light and helps to cool down things (albeit for a brief period of time). However, life in Kerambitan seems to come to a halt whenever it rains. Some of my friends’ host families have even suggested they stay home from school because of the weather.
While I have experienced many light showers, last week we were hit by a super strong storm. I rarely ever wake up in the middle of the night, but around midnight I awoke with a bang to the loudest thunder and torrential downpour I have ever heard. It felt like my entire room was shaking. I thought about calling my academic director to make sure everything was bagus (good), but I was pretty sleepy and ended up falling back to sleep. When I got up the next morning, there were dozens of messages from my friends as nearly everyone had been woken up by the chaos.
The sunsets and sunrises here are breathtaking.
Bali has taught me that nature is a powerful force.
