My first snow on 11/11/11

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On 11/11/11, a day when many people were making wishes, one of mine came true: I saw the first snowfall of my life.

Since the day I landed in Canada, I had always wanted to see snow. As the Tropic of Cancer passes through the middle of India, the majority of the country can be observed as climatically tropical. I had never seen snow throughout my existence. All I had seen in my entire life was sun and summers. Snow had become a dream for me, something I had always wanted to see in reality. The only place I had ever seen snow was on television and in Christmas movies, which made me wish that I could experience snow in real life.

As my daily routine, I got up checked the temperature and it didn't indicate it would snow that day, so I got ready and caught the bus for school. But the moment I got off the bus, I had a big smile on my face. I could see white cotton balls falling down from the sky, proving Newton's law of gravity. I couldn't believe my eyes that snow looked so beautiful. Those were like tiny droplets of ice to me. I wanted to open my jacket and feel them on my bare skin, and make me believe, that yes this is snow. I moved my face towards the sky so that my face could feel what I had always dreamt of. And when those white droplets fell on my jacket, I would stare at them in disbelief that this was how they looked. I didn't want my excitement to end so quickly, so I chose the long way to reach my class as if I would never see snow again in my life. But the only thing I knew was I wanted to live every moment of my ever-wanted dream.

The snow lasted for a few minutes, and as soon as I reached my class I could hear a rush of words from everywhere, "It snowed today." I didn't see a single face that looked excited about it. Seeing the excitement on my face, everyone said, "Wait till the snow reaches to your height." My answer was, "I want to experience that too; I am excited about it."

India is a country of four seasons, where summer dominates all year. I come from the east part of India: West Bengal. December and January, though they are the coldest months, the minimum temperature is 10 to 15°C. For Londoners, it would be the fall time, but for us it is chilly. I still remember how, during our winters, people take out all their woolen clothes to try to keep themselves as covered as they can. In London, I barely see anyone so covered at this temperature. Even in our extreme winters in India, we get the pleasure to see the sun and feel its warmth. I remember we used to sit outside our houses enjoying the sun's rays in the afternoon. Sometimes I used to sleep outside while enjoying the warmness of the beautiful rays.

But all that fun back in India was nothing in comparison to what I had enjoyed that Friday. I can't wait for the next snow and I have already prepared a to-do list for the winter: building a snowman, ice skating, bundling up and playing in the snow. When the snow flies, I won't be the person who is sitting inside and wasting time. Snow is a miracle for me and it connects us to nature in glorious ways. I will be living up every moment of snow in my life.

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