The Shanghai Winter

"singaporeans in shanghai winter. estated by the snow. looking at the white streets from a 24-storey-high apartment. this is the city we are going to be for the next one year. excited about the different environment and anticipating the differences we can make in this city."

(ew, a singaporean in shanghai for NOC)

North Carolina, Winter 2008, "The first snow that I ever saw in my life"

"The first snow that I ever saw in my life was through a window of my dormitory in Elon University, North Carolina.

When shouts of "it's snowing!" first rang down the hallway, I didn't believe it. But soon the snow had gathered on the shrubs and ground outside and I whipped out my camera to snap some pictures of the scene. It was surreal looking at the flakes of ice falling on the window sill and melting instantaneously."

(ziliang, the alternative journalist)

Vancouver, BC, Canada, Winter 2006

"Usually all I see are grey clouds, grey sky, even grey rain. I trudge to school surrounded by greyness for 15 minutes every morning. The sun doesn't shine. It drizzles just enough to irritate you but not enough for you to need an umbrella. At 4pm, I walk out of class and bump into things on account of it being so dark. But this sight more than made up for the 2 months worth of visual bleakness. My roommates and I stared in wonder at the snow, then I went for a Rolling Stones concert and returned, trudging in ankle-deep snow. The next day, we went out to play. I made a snow T-rex, got gastritis an hour later, and my roommate slipped and fell on some ice, spilling hot soup all over himself. Welcome to winter in Vancouver."

(david, the sexy shorts boy of the NUS history honours cohort)