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Although Rhona O'Sullivan was born in Vienna in 1970 on the mainland of Europe and raised there for her first seven formative years, she soon became aware of contrasting climates when she moved to England.
I remember very clearly the winter of 1981, when I was 10 years old. I had come over from Austria 3 years previously, and what I missed most of all were the differences in the seasons. I was used to being able to ski or toboggan in the winter, but here it seemed to mainly rain.
That winter, however, it got very, very cold, even the pond froze solid enough for us all to go skating on it. The snow was quite deep and I remember our dog bouncing around in it trying to chase the sticks we threw.
At school we had snowball fights, skated on frozen puddles and cried as our hands defrosted back in the warmth.
Even though I was born in Austria, I am British, but I never really felt it. I had been bullied badly at school, as although I was bilingual I still had a slight accent. I was also an 'over achiever' which gave the bullies yet another reason to pick on me.
I didn't feel at home here at all, and longed for nothing more than to go home to my mountains and countryside. But that winter something changed, snow was something that made it feel like home.
I had just changed schools to a Montessori one not too far away, and had made friends there, at last. A new family moved in down my street, and the girl next door was about my age; we were best friends for many years after that.
With the snow, the playing and all the laughter, I at last felt, after 3 years of alienation, that this place where I had been living had become my home.
Rhona went on to complete her education at Reading University.
Rhona O'Sullivan, 2002
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