The week of storms, filth, and the best dogs in the world.

Here I sit on a leather sofa, watching a show about cake while the best dog in the world pokes my arm with her wet, black snout, begging for my attention. Ah, someone else's home sweet home. It almost feels like the last week didn't happen--the week of that awful, ridiculous storm that threw a wrench in the plans of thousands of people across the South.

It began well. I came back from Easter Break ready for two more weeks of school. My roommate and I had another wonderful Twin Twosday.  **inserting cute photo here**

On Tuesday night, I looked at the weather app on my phone and thought to myself, "Oh, some thunderstorms...that means I'll have curly hair tomorrow. No big deal." The next morning, I woke up to a stomach ache and the sound of my RA banging on the door and yelling something about a tornado warning and get down to the basement right now and panic panic panic. Best start to a day I've ever had.

We went down the the basement six times that day--spent most of the day down there, in fact. My legs got buff from climbing up and down 5 1/2 flights of stairs half a dozen times. But the ladies of The Fritz were prepared with pillows, blankets, homework, entertainment, snacks, and teddy bears.

Comfy, no?
Then we lost our regular power as well as generator power--but the latter only on our floor because my RA blew a fuse. The Fritz was dark for the next three days and looked much like the set of a horror film. And then they (the powers that be) told us that we were running low on water so don't take showers please, even though all of you smell like dogs. 


The next day, my roommate and I went down the mountain to survey the damage down below and stock up on supplies at Walmart. Ends up we didn't need to do that. At 2:30 that afternoon, as I was studying for my exams, all of campus received an email saying that we only had enough water left for a day and everyone needed to get off campus ("evacuate" was the calming word used in the email)--for the year--by 3:00 the next afternoon. Skip cleaning day, exams, end of the year goodbyes, just throw everything in a bag and GET OUT.

AAAH. 

Campus went into mass chaos. Nobody was quite sure what to do. We were all calling our parents, figuring out how to get home, knocking down the doors of storage to put away items that were too big to get into the car, and running 50 pound items that would fit in the car down four flights of stairs before daylight went out.

By that evening, campus had officially run out of water--yes, less than a day after the email was sent. Port-a-potties were put up in parking lots and bottled water was distributed. Everyone was greasy and smelly.

After sunset that evening, trying to do anything productive was useless. So The Fritz spent our night well by chasing each other down with flashlights, having a glowstick dance party on the veranda, and sitting around telling stories. My roommate and I stayed up way too late trying to savor our last night of living in the same room after three years together. We were upset about being jipped a week.

The next day was a blur. Somehow the room got clean and rearranged and all of my belongings made their way into bags. Then I was in the car with Alyssa, heading to her house in Atlanta. We had decided to go there for the weekend and then go back to her house on the mountain to wait for graduation on Saturday. Despite the crazy day, we were renewed by showers (FINALLY CLEAN!!) so that we could then watch the royal wedding {Alyssa INSISTED I go back and insert that} before going out for froyo and bowling. Yay.

Saturday afternoon was spent at Ikea, and today was spent finishing every last piece of homework. I was thanking my lucky stars exams were cancelled. I was also QUITE enjoying the company of my two new favorite dogs, Baron and Daisy.

Today we also heard that the power at Alyssa's house on the mountain will be out for another week and that the water is undrinkable, so we will be spending the rest of the week in this big house with comfy chairs. needy dogs, and delicious food. Of course, this means not getting to spend time with people who are still in Chatty, which makes me sad.

I still feel like ends are untied. All my work is done, which officially makes me a senior in college (HOL-Y SMOKES). Some of my belongings are still on campus and I will be going to get them this weekend. And then I will be home for the summer.

I thank the Lord that our campus was spared, though I ache for those who were hit. And even though He threw us all for a loop right at the end of the semester, I know He has the best in mind. He always does.