As Ames enters the second month of winter, out-of-state students have had time to adjust to the temperature and share their advice on how to cope with it.
Kylee Valencia, a junior studying pre-athletic training from Orange County, California, said the cold was a shock.
“It is freezing,” Valencia said. “I wasn’t prepared, especially for the negatives. I had no idea what that felt like. I was a little nervous and scared to feel it and it was really cold.”
Valencia said that she was glad to have people from here help her out in preparation for the freezing temperatures.
“I went around asking people what are good brands of winter coats because I didn’t even own a coat at that point,” Valencia said. “I went up to friends and asked, ‘Hey, you have lived in the Midwest your whole life. What is the best brand, how thick should I get it, how long does it need to be?’ That’s how I got prepared.”
However, Valencia said that she doesn’t think she feels any colder than people who have lived here forever.
“It’s cold for everyone,” Valencia said. “I asked my friends if they ever get used to it and they all say no. They all say it’s still cold and they are shivering. Sometimes, I feel like I am handling it better than they are. But it is always constant, it never gets better and you don’t get used to it.”
Callie Kelley, a senior in political science from Orlando, Florida, said she has been to Iowa before, but living in the cold weather is completely different.
“My family lives in Iowa so I’ve been here before, but living in it was definitely a different experience,” Kelley said. “I had to buy a winter coat because I had never had one before. Walking to class when it was below freezing, negative wind chill, I’d never experienced anything like that.”
Kelley said she was not ready for what was to come.
“My dad grew up here,” Kelley said. “He went to school here, and he would tell me it’s gonna be cold, it’s always gonna be cold. I’ve been skiing before, it won’t be that bad, is what I thought. Then I got here, and I was completely unprepared.”
Adrian Welton, a sophomore in aerospace engineering from San Diego, said he was ready to feel the cold weather until he wasn’t.
“At first, I thought, ‘Okay, finally a break from the heat,’ but then it started getting under the 20s, and I had never felt that it was completely different from what I thought,” Welton said.
Welton said he waited until he arrived to prepare for the cold weather.
“My parents said wait for winter clothes because they aren’t a thing in California,” Welton said. “I waited until I found people who actually knew what they were doing. My roommate was nice enough to hook me up with a nice winter coat. I was pretty nonchalant about it, but my roommate was definitely helpful.”
Welton also said he had no true expectations about what the weather was truly like.
“I had never felt weather this cold, so I had no idea what it would be like,” Welton said. “People were telling me I was going to hate it. Honestly, from what I’ve seen so far, it’s not that bad.”
For information on how to stay warm, Iowa State’s Department of Public Safety, visit their website.