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So, It’s Your First Time In A Frozen Hellscape
I grew up and attended college in solid temperate zones with four distinct seasons — summer, fall, winter, and mud. I took it for granted that everyone had at least one wind-and-waterproof coat and snow pants. And then, during my unseasonably cold college orientation week, I met Sienna.
Sienna was from Texas. More fashionable than I’d ever be, and more acclimated to heat than I thought possible, Sienna and I made an odd couple of orientation roommates, but friendly ones. The third morning of orientation week, we woke up to frost on the windows.
I grabbed long underwear to put under my jeans for the day’s hike. Sienna watched me, and then put on two pairs of yoga pants, one after the other. I grabbed my coat out of a duffel I hadn’t intended to unpack for at least another month, and she grabbed hers — a brand new coat, with the tags still on it.
It was all wrong.
I could tell right away that she was going to be miserable, despite the stunning purple faux-fur collar. Her coat wasn’t lined with anything warm, didn’t have a wind or waterproof exterior, and was clearly going to tear the first time she snagged it on a branch or bush.
