a sandy halloween

Hi everyone! Thankfully I am safe and alive. It's been a whirlwind these past three days since the storm hit. At about 8:30pm on Monday evening, the power went out and I've been without it since, until I had to evacuate out of my dorm yesterday afternoon. I'm temporarily residing in one of my college's buildings, which fortunately, still has power. I've been told by the president of the university that power is probably going to come back by Monday, when school resumes again after a week of canceled classes.

Before relocating, I was scared to leave my room because the hallways and stairwells are pitch black, there was an eery chilly breeze in the lower lobby, and my mind recounted every horror movie I've watched, making me regret watching them in the first place (I don't even like scary movies!). I didn't want to leave the comfort of my room, but I went outside yesterday afternoon hoping that the grocery nearby would be open (since I didn't take the storm seriously, did not prepare for the worst, and ran out of food). It was not. Instead, I walked out to the Hudson and with the existing crowd, watched the gray waters of the Hudson River along with the somber sky and the Jersey shore on the other side.

I have no family here in New York. My closest relative is in Baltimore. I felt like the world had come to an end, that the apocalypse had already arrived. It didn't help when the sun set and the darkness slowly swallowed up the city. I looked out the window every time I saw flashing lights outside, of a police car passing by, and it felt strange when I wouldn't even have noticed it a week ago. Last night, I sat in my bed with a book in my lap and a flashlight in my hand, and occasionally, I would put them down and stare out my window at the Empire State Building, still lit up so bright in the distance. It's so strange to think that the lower half of the great New York City is suffering, that thousands of people are without electricity, power, even water (my residence hall was fortunate to still have water running, although cold) because of a natural disaster. It kind of disappoints me that NYC isn't better prepared for such a storm and its aftermath.

Still, I'm thankful to be alive, and grateful for the break I'm getting after my grueling midterms last week. It was just unexpected and caught me off-guard, that's all.

With that, I wish you a Happy Halloween, whether you are affected by Sandy or not.