The Minnesota winter is not as bad as it's made out to be. Yes, it's very cold, but you learn how to dress for it and you do stuff outside anyway-- such as an 8

The Minnesota winter is not as bad as it's made out to be. Yes, it's very cold, but you learn how to dress for it and you do stuff outside anyway-- such as an 8-mile hike I did in -10 F under 3 layers. Also, by this time of year it's 40-50 and you can do pretty much any three-season outdoor activity. IMO most Northern European winters are worse than Minnesota's-- not nearly as cold, but longer (in Europe, it starts getting cold in October), darker, and much cloudier.