Fire Drills & the BEACH! & Public Transportation

Thursday:
     There's nothing quite like being awoken to the sound of a blaring, eardrum-shattering alarm echoing through one's dorm room. This was my night last night.
     I had decided to go to bed early at like 10:30 and was sound asleep by 11, when a slightly annoying beeping escalated into a horrendous shriek, loud enough to make me sit up and ask Rebecca what was happening. She was already out of bed and half way to the door, saying that she'd grabbed the room key. I stumbled out of bed, into my flipflops, and out the door after her. In the hallway, kids were pouring out of their rooms and down the stair well and I followed, almost glad that I didn't have my contacts in or glasses on. It made me feel like because I couldn't see anyone clearly they couldn't see me clearly, like the fact that I was in my PJs...I was so tired and mad at whoever made the alarm go off and I wouldn't stop whining about how I just wanted to go back to bed. Once we were outside and across the street in a mass of kids that stretched half a block, I started looking around and I realized that guys look exactly the same when they're hanging out in their dorms late at night, but girls look totally different. No makeup, their hair a mess, in their PJs or sweats that don't fit right. Even in my blurry-eyed state I could tell that I wasn't the only one looking ratchet.
     Finally, we were allowed back in the building and even though I didn't have my ID the guard let me through, probably because I looked like I was still asleep. Once back in the room, I crawled back in bed and was drifting off again when the freaking alarm went off for the second time. Rebecca and I were both like "You've got to be kidding me." This time, I had the presence of mind to grab my ID and glasses and followed Rebecca out the door. We only made it to the stairwell before word traveled that we didn't have to leave the building. I guess there was some kind of malfunction in the system. We went back to our room but all of the rooms have a continuous, high-pitched alarm sound and it was too awful to stay in there so we went back into the hallway and waited it out. It was an unpleasant experience, to say the least, but looking back I guess it was slightly entertaining. We got a scathing email from the resident director afterwards saying that there were some egregious errors in proper conduct...hate to say it bud, but when there are two false alarms between 11 PM and midnight, there are going to be a couple kids who don't do everything just right...

Friday:
Friday was fairly uneventful, if I remember correctly. I went to FNL and Free Food Fun Friday with GCC peeps.

Saturday:
I woke up at 7 AM (on a SATURDAY!!!) and went to the beach with the Newman Center! It was so much fun, but it was also a little weird because we went to Cape May Point, which is where MF's grandparents live and where AP, DL, MF, and I have gone the past two years around this time of year. It was weird being there without them. It took about about two hours to get there and then we had mass at a little chapel that I've seen before because it's like a minute from MF's grandparents' house and it's right across from the general store and the circle/park where people hang out. After mass we had pizza and two girls shared their faith testimonies and then we got back in the bus and drove down to the beach. About half of us went swimming and then five of us started playing volleyball and within half an hour we had like 17 people playing. It was a lot of fun and I luckily didn't have to hit the ball that often (it was really hard and painful). After that we went back to the water and Haley and I were just standing at the edge (she hadn't brought her bathing suit and I didn't want to get in again) but then one of the guys who works at the Newman Center lost his glasses in the ocean so a couple of us helped him looked for them and I waded through the water for like an hour waiting for the glasses to just show up at my feet but they never did. I guess God doesn't work miracles with glasses...

     After that, we packed up our stuff and headed back to where the bus was. We had a picnic dinner and two more girls shared their experiences with God and the Newman Center. Then we got ice cream and Father Mahoney bought for all of us. It was freezer frosted but no complaints for free food. On the way home, Haley and I played that game where you come up with a category and have to name something from that category that starts with every letter of the alphabet. So like a modified version of "I'm Going to the Beach and I'm Bringing a..." It was fun but I kept thinking about the games MF, DL, AP and I would play on the four hour ride up to the beach in the middle of the night. We could entertain ourselves for hours. When the lives of Philly came into view I realized that this is home for now and that was a little weird for me. Everything about yesterday was weird but I guess in a good way. It just made me realize that I'm in a different season of my life. I have to let go of some of the old things, even the good ones, or else I'll always be unhappy. 

Sunday:

I'm gonna be honest. Today sucked. I slept in till 9:30, worked on homework, got lunch (they were still serving breakfast at 12:15 which ticked me off) then I got on the subway and headed downtown for my volunteer orientation. Unfortunately, once I got off at the City Hall stop and followed the signs to the Trolley Lines, there was a water main break and the trolley line I needed was delayed. After forty five minutes of waiting for this train, I asked the middle-aged guy beside me (who'd also been waiting for a long time) if he was waiting for the 10 too and he said that he was but that it apparently wasn't coming to the station at all so he was going to get on whatever the next train was and transfer at 33rd Street so when the next train came I followed him. By this point, I was already five minutes late to orientation and generally ticked off. When 33rd Street came, I got off with the guy and followed him outside and waited for the bus to come, which took another fifteen minutes. Finally I managed to get to the place and showed up half an hour late. The orientation was fine I guess, but I'm worried that I won't have time for meeting every week and I'll just be stressed out. Once we finished I just started walking and was hoping that a subway station would appear out of nowhere because there was no way I was dealing with the bus again. I just wanted to get home. Luckily I walked long enough and a station appeared and I got back to campus without an issue. Then I met Haley and Melissa for dinner and Haley said that she'd had a crappy day too and had a mental breakdown over her English homework so that made me feel a little better but then the dining hall food wasn't that great so that was kind of disappointing. I had said that I was going to go to mass at 7 with Haley but I just wasn't feeling like church and I have basically the entirety of The Taming of the Shrew to read by Tuesday so ugh. Hopefully tomorrow will be better. Being an adult is overwhelming.

Quotes of the Day: "You see what I say but do not see my struggle. Mein kampf."- BL being all philosophical.
"Ice cream is my love language."-KB
"One of the girls just starts crying for no reason. I hate girls. Like are you high? Just go home."-the guys at the table next to us at dinner.

Day 1028 Song Recommendation: "I'm Not the Only One" by Sam Smith (Thirdstory cover).
Day 1029 Song Recommendation: "Dancing in the Moonlight" by King Harvest.
Day 1030 Song Recommendation: "Darlin'" by Houndmouth.
Day 1031 Song Recommendation: "Exhale" by Plumb.

-SE Wagner