What Cardiff’s Weather Taught Me About Resilience

It rains in Cardiff. A bit more than I expected at first.

If you’re new here, that’s your first reality check. It’s not just a stereotype or a punchline in a fresher’s group chat. It’s a fact of life. The rain is everywhere—on your walk to lectures, on your way to Lidl, even sneaking in sideways under your umbrella when you’re least expecting it. But after three years living and studying here, I’ve found that the rain isn’t just something you put up with. It actually teaches you a lot, especially about resilience.

When I first moved to Cardiff, I’ll be honest, the weather got to me. I’d wake up, look out the window, and see nothing but grey. The kind of mist that soaks you before you even notice. The drizzle that makes your jeans stick to your legs and your hair frizz up before you even make it to the bus stop. I’d show up to lectures damp, grumpy, and convinced that I’d never get used to it. My £4 Primark umbrella would turn inside out at the first gust of wind, and I’d spend the rest of the day trying to dry off in the library.

But somewhere along the way, something shifted. I stopped trying to fight the weather. Instead of dreading it, I started preparing for it. I invested in a proper waterproof coat (honestly, the best money I’ve spent at uni). I swapped out flimsy umbrellas for something that could actually survive a Cardiff storm. I learned to laugh when the rain caught me halfway to Lidl with no shelter in sight. Cardiff teaches you to be chill about getting wet. It’s almost a rite of passage.

But it’s more than just learning to dress for the weather. The constant rain made me tougher. If I let a bit of drizzle stop me, I’d miss out on so much. Some of my favourite memories happened in the rain—walking through Bute Park with my hood up and my favourite playlist on, dancing in the SU courtyard when the sky just opened up, or those late-night walks home where it was so wet we just gave up trying to stay dry and sprinted, screaming and laughing the whole way.

The thing about Cardiff rain is that it isn’t dramatic. It’s not a thunderstorm that stops everything. It’s just there, like a background character in your uni story. And that’s what makes it powerful. You don’t wait for it to stop. You just keep going. You go to that 9am, even if you’re soaked. You show up for your mates, even if your hair is a mess and your shoes are squelching.

I used to think resilience was about being loud or bold or fearless. Now, I think sometimes it’s just about showing up. Even when you’re tired, even when you’re over it, even when the weather is the last thing you want to deal with. Especially then.

So, yes, Cardiff gets a lot of rain. But in a weird way, it’s part of what made me feel more capable. You can’t always control the conditions, but you can still move forward. You can still submit the essay, still make memories, still live your life- frizzy hair and all. And honestly, I wouldn’t have it any other way.

-Muskaan Pahwa, 3rd year Journalism, Media and English Literature student