Adaptation

Jackson, WY is the coldest place I've called home. Jackson was the first time I was aware of true, unending cold. The type of cold where you walk outside and experience the sharp pain of your nose and pharynx freezing when you first inhale. I learned to take cautious sips of air through the safety of a scarf. I am a cold weather girl. It's in my DNA and most importantly my soul. Cold air is paired with mountains, conifers and wild skies. Cold is my home.

Upon acceptance to SGU I was riddled with the fear the heat would be my undoing. I had demonstrated over the course of several Portland summers, that I was useless in hot weather. I could not eat, sleep or really do anything productive. Plus I was grouchy. I hate heat. So the worry gnawed at me and I arrived in Grenada to find that it was warm...but not TOO warm. There were some uncomfortable moments but nothing that sent me screaming to the counter of the airports. But that was Term 1, Springtime in Grenada. It is now truly a withering heat. I am hot 24/7 with little hope of being anything else. So I was shocked to discover that I have ADAPTED to the heat. It's true. I made this discovery earlier in the week while checking the weather report. Now as you know from earlier blogs, I check for hurricanes often...however this is very different from checking the weather. Grenada weather is the same everyday. Daytime temps differ from nightime temps by a slim 4-5 degrees. Everyday, night after night...it's another beautiful day. I don't need a weather report to tell me that. But due to the wind, lightning and thunder displays we'd been having, I decided to check on the weekend report to determine if Sandblast (the after mid-term party at the beach) would be worth attending. And sitting there glaring at me were the lines: Actual Temperature: 87...Feels Like: 107!!! I was shocked. I was hot true...but 107?! That's ridiculous, non-functional, middle of the Sahara type of heat. And I am living in it. Thriving in it. I sat on my couch a bit stunned and slowly began to smile. I'm getting kind of tough. The girl from 6 months ago certainly couldn't of studied for midterms when it was 107. So I'm hot. I'm okay with that. Of course it doesn't hurt that I'm five minutes from the soothing waters of the Caribbean Sea...