By Simina Mistreanu

The year’s first snowfall, the very rare snowfall or the biggest snowfall are always such personal events.

每年的雪天，不管是初雪还是罕见的暴雪，总能勾起人的一些回忆。

Photos by Simina Mistreanu

We look out our windows and see how reality has changed. The world is covered in a white, cozy layer, which makes it look still, but also more alive and easier to interact with.

看着窗外，一夜间斗转星移。整片天地都被白雪覆盖，安详，平静，好像世界都静止，而其间又夹杂着一种活泼的亲切感。

Snow makes certain days surprisingly memorable. I remember snow days from my childhood and from the years since, as if they were cut out with a cookie cutter from the long, amorphous dough of the seasons.

记忆中，跟雪相关的场景总是很容易被回忆起来。

I remember my mom keeping me inside and bundling me up on cold winter days, as if the snow was something I needed protection from. I remember climbing on top of my grandma’s bed, by the wood stove, so that I would be closer to the steamed window. I would draw bare three branches with my finger on the window through which I could see the actual, snow-covered, leafless trees.

我记得母亲在屋里给我套上一件件厚衣服；我记得儿时的我爬到外祖母家火炉边的床上去够被蒸汽熏的模糊的窗户，为了看清楚窗外被雪覆盖的光秃秃的树干。

I remember discovering snow on my own terms, during ski trips with friends in high school, in Romania’s Carpathian Mountains.

I remember learning how to ski: the endless freedom when you start gliding down the hill, feeling your way in the snow, going faster or slower as you flex your knees to slalom. Reaching the bottom of the slope with a big smile inside your chest, and probably on your rosy cheeks as well. Running to the chair lift for another trip.

我记得高中时和同学在罗马尼亚的喀尔巴千山滑雪；我记得学滑雪的每个细节，记得用身体掌控滑行速度和方向的快感，记得滑行时风在耳边呼啸的自由，记得到目的地后从心底绽放的笑容，记得雀跃着跑到起点，开始下一场滑行……

Some winters in the village of Straja, where we went to ski, snow was so big that we could descend the hill by rolling off the roofs of houses on our way back to the cabin. The snow was always puffy and soft and safe to fall on, almost safe to swim in.

One year, my friends Oana and Larisa and I hid in the snow and waited for our other friends to find us. They never came looking for us in that hour or so, but we had the time of our lives building a little nest and taking pictures in the thick layer of snow.

在家乡Straja的村子里，雪有时候下的太大，我们直接就从屋顶的雪上滑过。大雪总是又松又软，有一年，我和朋友Oana，Larisa就藏在雪里筑了一个小巢，别人怎么都找不到我们……

Snow is familiarity. It brings home to wherever you are. It was familiar, if not annoying during an unusually heavy snowfall during spring break in grad school in Missouri. I had chosen to take an extra class instead of going to the warm South with my friends. I trekked through the thigh-high snow into the deserted city and campus.

雪让人有种熟悉感，不管在哪里，一下雪，好像就回到了家。

It was familiar and awesome when we skied in the Rocky Mountains. Or when a little bit of snow fell in Portland, Oregon, where snow rarely falls, and it blocked the entire city.

我对雪有着熟悉的亲切感，不管是当我们在落基山脉滑雪的时候，或者是当曾居住过的少雪的波特兰也下起雪来。

This past Sunday morning, I met my boyfriend and a friend for lunch in Wudaokou. After lunch, we walked through the large, wet snowflakes to the Tsinghua University campus, which was covered in a thin layer of snow.

On Monday, I had two interviews in Beijing’s Central Business District. The sun had come out, but the temperature was still low enough to not melt the snow. It decorated the statues, the sidewalks and Central Park. I walked around and took pictures. It was my first snow in Beijing.

周日上午，我和男朋友在五道口和一个朋友见面吃饭。饭后，我们在清华大学被白雪覆盖的偌大校园里穿行了很久。昨天，我又在中央商务区待了几小时，那时太阳已经出来了，但温度还是很低，雪还没化，一切还是银装素裹的模样。我边走边拍，这是我第一次见到北京的雪。

Lorelai Gilmore, the character in the Gilmore Girls TV series, claims that she can smell snow before it falls. In one episode, she rouses her boyfriend, Luke, out of bed and takes him outside to wait for the snow. He grumbles and says snow wasn’t in the forecast.

美剧《吉尔莫女孩》里，Lorelai Gilmore说，她能闻到下雪前的独特气味。某一集中，她说服男朋友来到室外，陪她一起等雪来。

“It’s just my favorite time of the year,” she says. “The whole world changes color. Flakes, flurries, swirls, crystals, whatever form it comes in. I’ll take it. We go back, snow and me. We have a beautiful history. Sleigh rides, ice skating, snowball fights. I'll even take curling. God, I love curling! Hot cocoa, hot toddies. Best time of the year!”

“一年中，我最喜欢雪天。我喜欢整片天地都变了颜色，雪花，小雪，水晶，雪涡……千变万化的雪，每一种我都爱。”

Her boyfriend insists that all the forecasts said it wouldn’t snow for another couple of weeks. Right then it starts snowing.

而她男朋友坚持说，最近几周都不会下雪。然后突然间，雪花就开始飘落了。

“Welcome, friend,” Lorelai says.

“欢迎你，我的朋友。”