Um susto daqueles!

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Today I woke up to a text from my RA (Resident Assistant) and friend demanding that I come down to the basement as there is a tornado warning. I was confused first of all, not really knowing the difference between a watch and a warning, then I just didn't know what to do: should I bring something with me?, and what would that be?, should I take out my fan and close my window?, what do I do?, should I get off of my pjs and put real clothes on?  I was an emotional wreck. This was a new thing for me!  So I go get my dear boyfriend from his bed and demand that he come with me, because I'm scared, confused, and it's supposed to be safer there.  We brought water, granola bars, and a blanket, only to realize that that last one was completely unnecessary - our basement is way too hot!  Anyways, so he just keeps telling me it'll be okay, that we are on a hill and tornadoes don't get here. But the weather kept getting weirder and weirder... Never ending rain, lots of wind, the sky was sooo dark! It just scared me soooo much! We were there for about half an hour, the time they had told us to stay. Came back up and we were soon told to hide back down and not leave until we were told it was safe out there.  I can tell you this was one of the scariest moments of my life, if not the most. So we go back down, this time with a laptop.  I emailed my parents saying everything was okay and that I was safe.  Didn't really know if everything would be okay, but didn't want them to be scared when they saw on the news the Alabama disaster and went to check the weather for Westminster, MD.  Of course I didn't tell them that at that precise time I was hiding down in the basement of McDaniel Hall, on the verge of tears.

My boyfriend is in my morning class (Critical Thinking), so he decided to call the professor's office to tell him that no student was allowed to leave the buildings they were in.  The professor said that class would happen as long as the building was still standing.  that didn't make me feel any better.  I wanted to hit him for saying that - there are things that you just don't joke about.  Anyways, I was told by many people that I was a big baby, but I didn't care.  My boyfriend just wanted to leave and go back to sleep, but we hadn't been cleared yet, so I didn't let him leave. He was upset about that, but new I was in great distress, so he stayed!

At about 9:45am an email came saying that if classes would resume as soon as the alert had been lifted, which would not happen until 10am.  So we waited there until the head RA came to tell us that Campus Safety had cleared us to go.

It was the most stressful and scary morning of my life!! I felt it was so disorganized (only about 1/4 of the people in my building were down in the basement), the sirens did nothing for me (yes, the sirens that were supposed to have woken me up at some point between 7 and 7:15am just didn't do it - I slept right through them!), and information wasn't very quick.  We all sign up for this service that the school has where are informed of any life-threatening situation on campus. However, even though Campus Safety was out and about with sirens telling us to take cover at 7am, the message from the service didn't reach the students until 8:07am.  That was weird, but anyways, than they were good and texted, called, and emailed us every half hour when the warning was extended, and again when we were free to leave.  The sirens just sound like an ambulance really.  This is a common sound in Westminster. I wouldn't be surprised if I had actually heard it and been to asleep to realize what it was, and probably just decided to go back to sleep.

Anyways, once they let us go, I changed quickly, put some milk and cereal into a Tupperware container and went to class.  Brought with me all the stuff I needed for the rest of the day (have a test tomorrow, and I have to say I just wasn't able to study, because I was so scared).  After class, my boyfriend was working and I went to that same building - there was no way I was gonna be ducking in a basement without him if they told us to again.  The rest of the day went without problems, the rain and wind stopped, the sky cleared, and the sun came out - you know just an average spring day.  As soon as the National Weather Service canceled the watch (the not so serious state in which everybody goes about their day - which was on until 3pm), I called home to my parents to explain what had happened.  Not sure what they thought, but we'll see.  Maybe tomorrow they'll have had more time to think about it and will have something to say.



Even though here it wasn't bad, tornadoes did hit other states and caused a lot of damage.  My heart goes out to all those affected and the families and friends of the victims.

Here is a link to a map from The New York Times that shows the tornadoes that have hit the US  for the last week:
http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2011/04/28/us/map-of-the-tornadoes-across-the-south.html

There have been over 300 deaths related to tornadoes in the last week.  (I'm gonna be honest and say that I didn't read the whole article - it's too depressing.)

So here you go, that was my morning!

Good night, everyone!

PS:  I promise I'll come back to blog about something more positive soon.  This was just uncensored therapy for me.

PPS:  I can't wait to go back home!! Leave in 16 days and will be back home in 17 days!!!

PPPS: I have the best boyfriend in the world!  He did everything I asked him to and made me feel much better just by being there.

Good night, everyone!