Recently it’s been snowing like crazy in Pittsburgh, and it doesn’t seem like it’s going to stop anytime soon.

Just last week, as the second week of online classes were starting, about six to eight inches of snow fell on campus. It also started to snow at the beginning of this week, which I think is a great start, even though I don’t think we got much accumulation. I’m so grateful that we’re still in shelter-in-place as of right now, because walking back and forth to classes in this brutal weather and snow would have been terrible. But it’s also hard to stay motivated since we’ve been stuck inside due to the weather conditions and shelter-in-place.

Some things I’ve been doing with either my friends or by myself to keep entertained and motivated are sledding, making hot chocolate, going on walks or staying in to watch a movie and so much more.

Sledding in different parts of campus with my friends has been one of my favorite activities this winter. We travel to either Flagstaff Hill or somewhere near Cathy, even if the hills aren’t as big there. We then search for random objects such as trash can lids or cardboard boxes to sled on. There were so many people sledding, which made it more fun because we could all switch sleds.

If you go with a big group of friends I think it’s much more entertaining, because you can have snowball fights and make snow angels — which, in my opinion, never gets old. It got colder after it snowed last week and the hill froze over, making it more fun to sled on because it was smoother. However, you do need to be very careful because if you sled down too far off the hill, you might end up on the road.

My roommate and I also love to make hot chocolate and go on long walks around campus. It reminds us of the holidays and overall is a really nice way to bond. If we don’t feel like going on a walk because it’s too cold, we always love to put on a good movie and stay in. I think movie nights whenever it snows are essential because it’s a great way to get cozy. If we have a lot of homework to do, we’ll put on some calm music or movie in the background to help us focus.

Whenever we’re snowed in and can’t go out for dinner, it’s a great opportunity to try out some new recipes. My roommate and I made crab rangoon the other day because we didn’t want to go through the hassle of traveling on a bus to go out to eat during a snowstorm. We found a good recipe to follow and bought all of the necessary ingredients from Giant Eagle and Panda Supermarket. We had a lot of fun making them and they turned out amazing!

At the end of the day, it’s important to do activities that make you happy and will keep you motivated. Whether it’s a movie night alone or snowball fight with friends, I think both are great ways to get your mind off of school when you can’t do much outside in this weather.

Shriya writes about things to do when snowed in and how you can still make the most out of it at the University of Pittsburgh. Talk to them at [email protected].