Greensboro, North Carolina — home of barbecue, football, folk music and wintry weather trepidation.

While storm Jonas unloaded two plus feet of snow in several northeastern cities, it left Greensboro with a meager two inches. Nevertheless, Guilford College shut school down on Monday, Jan. 25 to the elation of students both on and off campus.

“I live about 25 minutes away from campus,” said Early College student Marinna Smith. “The roads I take (to campus) are not usually cleared quickly, so that can be problematic.”

When asked how she spent her day off, Smith reported cozying up inside and watching television.

“It was too cold for me to stay out long,” Smith said.

Other students chose to brave the weather for the sake of sustenance.

“I walked to Walmart,” said junior Lesly Vasquez. “The store wasn’t crowded, but almost all the bread was gone.”

ECG senior Kyler Skipper ran out of milk the day that the snow began. Rather than eat his morning cereal dry, he ventured to his local Food Lion grocer.

“You would think it was the apocalypse,” Skipper said. “There were lines through the store.”

However, doomsday-like conditions did not keep him from going out.

In snow days past, Skipper has spent his time at the public library and the Greensboro Ice House. The former is his recommended source for free Internet when the power goes out at home, while the latter is his top spot for skating.

As for consciously putting yourself in a room full of frozen water, Skipper said, “if it’s going to be cold anywhere you go, you might as well.”

Plus he claimed that the rink’s hot chocolate was reason enough to pay a visit.

Smith and Skipper realize they are a minority amongst primarily traditional students who live on campus. Although traditional students’ accommodations make commuting a non-issue, even campus residents appreciated one extra day to bask in the freedom of winter break.

Vasquez, who stayed at Guilford for January term, spent her time walking around campus and enjoying the winter scenery. She suggests Dana Auditorium as the ideal spot to hang out on a snowy day.

“You can watch the snow fall through the big windows,” she said. “It’s really beautiful.”

A few questions remain: is Greensboro wimpy when it comes to the weather? Did we blow this whole snow thing out of proportion?

“I wouldn’t say that Greensboro is wimpy,” said CCE student Andrew Denoff. He is originally from West Virginia, where much bigger snowstorms are commonplace.

“We just don’t prepare well,” he said. “North Carolina has about two snow plows, one for Asheville and one for the rest of the state.”

Of course there are really more than two, but perhaps there are not enough to appropriately handle the weather Greensboro dealt with this year.

At the end of the day, students and staff were, at least in theory, off the roads. Additionally, they were left with 24 more hours for their minds to settle before facing classes, papers and the like.

Seems like a win-win in my book.