I don't know how it somehow escaped my notice during all the autumns that I've been alive that ivy leaves change color too in the fall. I suppose technically speaking I don't know that it was ivy in particular, or maybe it was a different kind than I'd seen before, but as I was walking to school one day I suddenly realized that the thick vines covering one of the brick buildings across the street had turned glorious red and orange and yellow colors, and as a gust of autumn wind went through they made the whole building seem to undulate softly.

Of course now all the leaves have fallen off and all that remains are scaly brown vines that you can only see if you look closely. But the loss of the leaves all along the route I walk to school revealed new vistas to me as well. Buildings that once hid shyly behind trees now stand up majestically, and I can see farther down the Muddy River than I ever could before. The first time I walked to school after all the leaves were down the view was so startling, I thought a bunch of trees had been chopped down or something.

And now the snow has arrived, and I get to see Brookline covered in white for the first time. It's oddly exciting to watch the seasons change in a new place.

wow, i couldn't have put that better myself. a couple of times i had this feeling that there was something weird about how the year was progressing at Amherst, and I couldn't figure out why. recently i realized (and have now been further convinced by your post) that i was just in awe of experiencing three seasons in a new place. i think i must have felt that strange sensation at colgate as well (even more so since fall and winter were quite a new thing). strange stuff...