The fifth installment in a year-long series chronicling two brothers’ freshman years.
When Jason Brodsky-Porges and five of his friends bundled up and headed for Boston Common’s Frog Pond Saturday night, they assumed they would have the ice rink to themselves. But with the ongoing snowstorm raging throughout Boston, the group found the rink closed and deserted. Turning around to go home, they found they had a problem.
“Only half of us had money to get back on the T,” Jason said. “We either had to get money from the machine or walk back in the blizzard.”
The group decided to brave the harsh New England weather and make the trek back to Northeastern on foot. The trip took about a half hour, Jason said.
“Maybe it’s because I’m from Seattle,” he said about his decision, laughing.
Jason and his twin brother, David, are both unaccustomed to New England’s snowy winters. Last weekend’s storm dropped more snow on Boston than Seattle sees on average in an entire year.
“This is more snow than I’ve ever seen in my life,” David said. “If it snowed an inch in Seattle everything would be shut down.”
The twins were both relieved classes were canceled Monday. Neither one was up for going back out into the cold.
“I realized that the snow is fun but at the same time it makes it really difficult to get anywhere,” David said. “The wind was blowing snow in my face and I was thinking ‘Wow, I need to get inside.'”
The view from inside his Stetson East residential hall room was much better than the view from outside, Jason said.
“I didn’t really want to be in it,” Jason said. “But it was cool watching it from the window. I did that a lot.”
The harsh New England weather was nothing like their trip home for Christmas break, David said. He said Seattle was, for once, “sunny every day,” despite the city’s usual rainy weather. Both twins said it was great to make a trip home and visit their old friends from high school.
“It was definitely nice,” David said. “Just not to have to go to classes and just hang out and not have anything to do.”
Coming back to Northeastern, however, was a good feeling, they said.
“While I was [in Seattle] there were a couple of times where I realized I don’t have the freedom I had grown accustomed to having,” David said. “It was kind of nice to be on my own again.”
Back at Northeastern, both have started new classes and new work-study jobs: David at Snell Library’s Media Center and Jason in the Stetson East office. Both said their classes are going well, although early morning classes have popped up on both their schedules.
“A couple of my friends don’t have classes on Tuesday or Friday,” David said. His 8 a.m. classes on both days, however, prevent him from staying out with friends those nights.
“I have to go to bed at, like, 8,” he said, with a laugh.
The early morning classes, though, are worth waking up for especially with the improv jazz class he signed up for over break, David said. He said the class allows him to break the monotony of lecture classes, and lets him practice his saxophone more often.
“Once we find the pace of the class and everything I think it’s going to be a lot of fun,” he said.
Now that they each have one semester of classes under their belts, both brothers said they feel more comfortable and at home at Northeastern.
“Coming back here, it feels like I’ve been here longer,” David said. “It feels a little different, I’m not exactly sure how. I’m just starting to get used to everything and all the routines.”
Jason said with time and experience at Northeastern comes a new sense of the city and more confidence in his travels.
“I feel like I know my way around a little bit,” he said. “I can do a lot more stuff on my own. If I could walk home in the blizzard I can walk anywhere.”
