the scottish transition into winter
journey entry from october 22, 2023
i woke up to the most beautiful sunrise this morning— firey pink clouds dotting the sky, a soft yellow haze hugging the horizon opposite the sun. i opened my blinds and laughed. that crispness is back— in the colors of the sky and in the air. we left scotland in its final gentle fall days and came back a week later to the town stripped of its final remnants of summer warmth. i can always feel this transition in the way my toes start to go numb around the flat, my eyes start to water from the wind, the chill starts to make its way into my spine when i’m not dressed warmly enough outside. it’s the time of year when nature starts showing off its power— in the newly-chilling gusts of wind at your back, in the deeper and more all-encompassing darkness that blankets over the town earlier and earlier each day, in the way the sky recedes upwards, its colors seeming so much farther away, and somehow much more vibrant. the softness has been replaced by a crispness, one that catches you off guard when you breathe in too deeply. thee is such a wonder and awe surrounding this transition. it reminds me that all of us humans are just here with no other option but to witness nature’s progression into this new season and prepare accordingly. we are completely at the whim of nature’s moods and forces. there is something so peaceful about this to me— by surrendering to it you can ground yourself within your environment. and once you do that, you can see that despite its shift away from warmth, from softness, it hasn’t left you hanging. it only shows its love for you in different ways: in the early morning calm, if you’re lucky enough to be awake for catch it, in the brightness of the white winter sun and the feeling of it recharging you when you stand under its direct path, in all the new ways the sky shows off with its newly expanded canvas. there is nothing quite like a winter sunset in st andrews, and it is all of these beautiful moments in and with nature that i want to focus on as we head deeper into the darkness. this is my last cold season here and i vow to myself to see it for all of its beauty, and to enjoy the art of cozying up for this one last scottish winter. copenhagen hygge prepared me well.
