After living in the excruciating Texas heat this past summer, I had forgotten what the slightest chill felt like. The high for most days was typically 102 degrees F; some days, it was as high as 109 F. I was desperately anticipating the cool weather that fall brings. Everyone knows how beautiful fall foliage can be, but I thought I would never get to experience it. Living in South Texas, the fall season is categorized by death—the trees are dead, the grass is dead, and there is little to no color. If there is color, it is brown with a possible hint of green, depending on what the temperature decides to be. All Texas weather is really, really hot or cold. To put it simply, Texas only has two seasons, which is one of the reasons why I moved to New England: to experience all four.
Dreaming about seeing the New England fall foliage might be a weird concept for some, but it was a dream of mine. I have been looking forward to seeing orange and red trees for as long as I can remember. The thought of just seeing them would bring me so much happiness and joy. The idea that people could be used to being surrounded by beautiful nature was such an obscure concept to me, and I wanted nothing else but to experience that. Walking around campus and seeing beautiful orange and red trees for the first time, is a unique and exhilarating feeling. Pictures cannot do the fall foliage justice. There is nothing like seeing it in the flesh, and I often have to stop my walk to class just to stare at the beautiful nature surrounding me.
One downside of this fall foliage is that my phone needs more storage. The amount of photos I have of any tree or the multiple leaves on the ground is too many to count. Simply put, for every other Texan student experiencing a true fall for the first time, I hope it’s just as beautiful as you expected it to be.