It’s getting cold outside and Case Western Reserve University students are bundling up in their warmest hats, gloves, scarves and boots. The weather is only going to get colder but that won’t stop us from being fashionable. Who said that you can’t look good and be warm at the same time?

Most students walk as quickly as possible to class with their heads hung low and hands stuffed in their pockets to keep away the cold. The only thing keeping them from turning around and crawling back to their warm beds are their grades. Once they get into the building, they can be warm. Just keep walking; the heat is near.

Finally inside, students hesitate to take off their hat and gloves. But it starts to become warmer and warmer. Soon the snow on their jackets starts to melt and drip on the floor. Mud and dirt combined with water is not a pretty sight. After class is over, it is time to go back into the cold.

Before reaching the doors, each student bundles up, quickly shoves fingers in gloves, sloppily throws on hats, and pushes the door open for the dreaded frozen tundra. Thud, thud, thud as their boots hit the slushy and snowy concrete. It is difficult to be fashionable when the weather is making it so hard to do so.

Looking at the crowd of students again, there is a sea of pom pom hats as far as the eye could see. One that is the most noticeable is the blue and white pom pom. It is the CWRU hat. Did some of these students forget their hats at home? The cold is unexpected, especially for first-year students.

The wind blows hard and students tug at their hats to keep away more of the harsh cold. Bright gloves, striped gloves, polka-dotted gloves and leather gloves are exposed. Some students even wear two pairs of gloves to keep out the cold. Chapped and dry hands are not all that comfortable. It’s too cold to expose any skin to the severe weather conditions. The safest is to stay in our rooms, under our covers, with Netflix on and a cup of hot cocoa prepared. Too bad we don’t have the free time to do that.

It has to be warmer somewhere. Anywhere but here. Walking in a winter wonderland, it is pretty as students watch the delicate white snowflakes fall from the sky. But once the wind blows, the prettiness of the snow starts to turn to disdain and muffled curses by the students. We can only try to combat the cold with our warmest hats, gloves, scarves and boots.