Things I've learned during my Fulbright year:
#10 - a lot about the English language
#9 - there is such a thing as too much free time
#8 - riding your bike in the snow can be dangerous
We were warned by our teachers that when it started to snow, we should probably leave our bikes at home. If you are a religious das Blog reader (hi, dad), you might remember the account of my first (but sadly not final) attempt of riding a bike in the snow. It ended with me covered in dirty road-slush, abandoning my bike somewhere along the way to school. Unfortunately, I tend to be pretty persistent. So even though that first ride didn't go well, a few weeks later, after I had gotten my snow-legs, I thought maybe I'd be a little more adept at taking on the snow. Right, so if you're from a place where 1. people don't generally ride bikes as a mode of transportation and 2. it doesn't actually snow (or when it does the whole city shuts down so you don't have anywhere to go anyway), it is safe to say you should not combine the two. Ever. For the more practiced bike-riders/snowfarers, sure, this might be doable (there were definitely plenty of committed bikers taking on the snow all winter here), but for someone like me, who only ever really rides a bike on nice paved paths and plays in the snow like a small child, it just shouldn't be done.
Although I never actually got hurt, or even got in a real accident, I had enough close calls in my few snow-biking experiences to maintain a proper respect (read: fear) for the possibility of sliding into an untimely and icy death for the rest of the winter season. But because I love snow (it's the simple things in life), getting to walk a few miles in a winter wonderland everyday for a couple months didn't bother me too much!
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