It’s my third year of college and my third year of going through a hurricane while away from home. I remember how excited I was in my freshman year when Hurricane Ian was coming and the school had to cancel classes for a few days. It meant I got to sleep in, and didn’t have to do any homework for a week. It also meant that my roommates and I had to go to one of their houses because we had to evacuate campus. I wasn’t nervous staying in Tampa because it meant that we were around other adults who knew how to prepare for a hurricane, but I was nervous at the fact that we had to evaluate because I’d never had to do that before.
When it got to my second year and there was another hurricane, Idalia, I was still pretty excited because that meant I got to delay doing my homework, go to my friend’s house, and sleep in again. We also made an apple pie while the power was going in and out and I had so much fun.
The thing about those two hurricanes is that they ended up not coming to the Tampa area. We mainly got a lot of wind and rain, so in a way, I was somewhat upset that we had to evacuate. Also, after those two years, I realized that I wasn’t a fan of not being able to go to class and do homework because once we came back, it felt like I was on double time with the amount of things I had to do.
Now that I am in my third year and another hurricane, Helene came to Tampa, I am upset that classes were canceled from Wednesday through Friday, and we had to evacuate the campus because that means there is a lot more work to be done when we return.
Even after the hurricane passed, students are still unable to return. This adds to everything because UTampa originally planned to open the campus today, Sept. 28. However, the chances of students returning today seem slim as the school is still trying to figure out what is damaged from the storm.
I understand that Hurricane Helene was a bad one, and many parts of Tampa were extremely affected. There were even a few times when the power at my apartment was flickering on and off, but luckily, UTampa wasn’t badly damaged. Hopefully, everything goes to plan and the campus opens back up on Monday and everything can go back to normal.
The only thing that I am grateful for because of this hurricane is that I can spend a few days with my old roommates in my apartment and it feels like we are back in our first two years of college again.