Preparing Yourself for Winter

By Kaitlin Hurtado on February 12, 2017

Depending on where you decide to spend your college career, you can experience various types of winters, from mild winters with occasional rainfall to harsh winters filled with snow days.

If you are used to cold weather and decide to study in an area with similar climate, you will have no problem braving the cold during your studies. If you are from a warmer part of the world, you’ll have a bit more trouble adapting to colder climates when winter breaks are typically sunny, with little to no rain.

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Prepare your wardrobe accordingly. 

Winter means that fall has come to an end, the days will no longer be sunny and blazing, and the chilly nights will get chillier. Put your summer wear — shorts, flip flops, tank tops — away, and rotate warmer wear into your wardrobe.

If possible, make room for bulkier and warmer clothes by sending your warm weather clothes back home for the winter months. If sending back your clothes is too much trouble and you still are looking for space, consider getting a group of friends together to rent out a storage unit until spring comes.

Preparing your wardrobe accordingly is hitting all aspects of your wardrobe, dressing yourself head-to-toe so you can be ready to face the cold on your way to class, jobs, or extracurriculars. Winter brings rain and snow — treks to and from class won’t be as easy, and they definitely won’t be as easy if you’re wearing open-toed shoes or canvas sneakers. Canvas sneakers aren’t weatherproof, so stepping even in the smallest puddle can mean spending the rest of the day with wet socks. Wear shoes that are more weatherproof, like rain boots, that will protect your feet and socks.

Try to invest in some staple winter pieces to get you through the cold, such as high-quality raincoats and winter coats. Along with warmer coats, incorporate cold weather accessories into your daily outfits to keep you warm in harsher weather. Knit beanies provide both warmth and a quick cover-up on bad hair days, while scarves can protect an exposed neck from the chill.

Stock your pantry, fridge, and medicine cabinet. 

The colder months of winter also bring colder bodies; spending hours away from your warm, comforting bed while commuting to your different responsibilities takes a toll.

Stock up on food that will warm you up after spending an extended amount of time in the cold, such as soup, chili, and pot roast. Invest in a crock pot/slow cooker, which will allow you to prep a meal in the morning and come home to a warm, homemade meal.

If you have a reusable coffee traveler, you’ll be spending less at your campus coffee shop for hot drinks to warm you up by brewing your own tea or coffee at home and taking it with you on-the-go to brave the winter weather.

With the winter months also comes flu season. Stock up on your medicine cabinet by making sure you’re prepared for anything from a runny nose to a full-blown head cold. You don’t want to have to wait until you are actually sick to venture out into not-so-pleasant weather conditions just to get medicine because chances are, going out in the cold will only make it worse.

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Anything heated is your new best friend. 

As much as you try to put on layer upon layer of clothing, the chill of winter can always manage to leak through.

Always have hand warmers and/or heating packs in your arsenal to battle winter weather. You can stick the heating packs pretty much anywhere for added warmth, like in your inner coat pockets, your gloves, your boots, etc.

Invest in a heated blanket to turn cold winter nights into something you can look forward to every day when you can spend the night in a warm, heated bed.

Always bring the umbrella. Always.

You would think a 10 percent chance of rain isn’t that bad — there’s a 90 percent chance of it not raining, so you don’t really need to lug around your umbrella all day. You decide you can risk not bringing an umbrella because a 10 percent chance really isn’t anything. However, two hours later, you’re leaving your lecture hall only to see it pouring outside and you don’t even have a hood to protect you.

Winter weather conditions can be just as inconsistent as any other season, if not more. It can be raining one day, sunny for the next three days, then hailing golf-ball-sized ice the next. It’s better to be over-prepared than underprepared, so always just bring the umbrella because you never know what the weather will bring within the next hour.

If you’re in an area that has rainstorms with strong winds, go as far as to have a backup umbrella in your apartment. You do not want to be that person trying to make a flimsy and/or broken umbrella stand strong against winds that will ultimately flip it inside out, or worse, straight out of your hands and tumbling into the air (Yes, it happens).

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