I woke up this morning to a world of white - fat soft clumps of fresh winter snow clinging to the needles of the pine trees outside the window and piling up in the crevices of trees. The ground was coated in that expanse of perfect glittering white that lasts only until the first footstep mars its surface. So early in the morning, the campus had not yet begun to stir, so the muting effect of snow and the absence of activity combined to create a simple, pure, and absolute silence that emanated peace even in the midst of the desperation of pre-finals stress. The snow continued to fall all day, great fluffy flakes that you could almost hear when they alit on your face with a ticklish splat. Evening now, and the denizens of the hill have trampled the snow into the characteristic pathways so common on a campus full of engineers; the shortest distance between two points is a straight line, especially when it's cold.