University of Dayton - MyLife

Blackout '08

It started out as a normal Sunday morning. I woke up early for church, then came home to get ready for our final recruitment event for my sorority. Before I left for the day, I remember checking the weather and seeing that there was a "wind advisory" in effect all afternoon. I didn't think much of it, except that I'd have to be careful walking through campus while wearing a dress in such strong winds. Our sorority event was held in Art Street Studio D, a room surrounded by windows. As the event continued on, we noticed how strong the wind was getting. Trash, leaves, and tree limbs were swirling throughout the student neighborhood, and the doors to Art Street were violently flying open and shut. At this point, I was nervous only because I had to walk back to my house in a dress under these windy conditions. As I finally braved the winds to head home around 4 or 4:30, I realized just how strong these winds were. Luckily, I made it back to my house in one piece to find my roommates and all of our neighbors sitting on their porches.

"We don't have power," said Kelly, as I walked up to the porch, wondering why everyone was sitting outside on such a windy day. "Oh, this is kind of fun," I thought..."at least until it gets dark and I have to do my homework." But I didn't actually think it would be that long. Growing up, we never lost power in a storm for more than a few hours. So I proceeded to sit outside on the porch and spend time with my roommates. It was great. People were everywhere on our street. And because this is college and the weather was a bit crazy, many people felt compelled to have fun "playing" in the wind. The guys a couple doors down from us began to skateboard down the street, taking a sheet and using it as a sail for the wind. Others took large tents and tarps, sat on desk chairs in the middle of the street, and let the wind take them wherever. As I'm sure you can imagine, this was entertainment enough for the entire evening. But as it started to get dark, we started to worry that maybe this power outage was going to be longer than just a few hours. Night came and we brought out flashlights and candles to light up our living room. Luckily, we have a gas stove, so we cooked one big pot of pasta and had a feast in candle light with all of our friends.

Monday morning rolls around...there is still no power. We continue on with our day like normal, however, because campus was one of the only places in the entire city of Dayton that actually HAD electricity. We packed up our computers and headed to campus to get our homework done, check our email, and recharge our cell phone batteries. As Monday evening came and it got dark again, we were amazed at the fact that we still had no power...it was starting to seem almost normal to live with the aid of flashlights and canldes.

Then Tuesday came and went...and still no power. At this point, I was frustrated only because we had to throw out so much food and we were really inconvenienced when it came to trying to get our homework done. Other than that, I really enjoyed the simplicity. There was no TV, no music, no radios...just the noise of everyone's voices and laughter echoing throughout the entire neighborhood...more people were outside just spending time together and it was great. Then, when I woke up Wednesday morning to our fire alarm buzzing, I thought one of two things: either the power was back on, or the alarms were buzzing again from the power outage. I got anxious so I got up and flipped my light switch. There it was: light again! I was so relieved and excited to have power again! After that experience, I don't think I can ever take electricity for granted...not having power for 60 hours really makes you realize how much you rely on it for your everyday life. Even simple things like vacuuming were impossible!

Now my friends and I joke that part of us still wishes our power was out. It was like we were almost living this surreal life...getting our power back just meant things had to go back to normal again, and that's just not as fun! Not all power has been restored to the rest of the UD community just yet, but the majority is back on. The university did a great job of helping us out during the blackout. They provided "emergency meals" in the dining halls for those of us without power. This helped me save a lot of money on food because we all know that college students don't have the kind of budget that lets them eat out everyday of the week, especially after throwing away an entire fridge of food. The emergency meals were also fun because it felt like freshmen year again when we would get a big group of friends together to go to the dining hall for dinner.

The blackout is one of those things I know I'll look back on for years and remember as one of the best times of senior year, or maybe even college altogether. As my friends like to say, "We survived involuntary sustainability and simplicity week '08!" I think we're going to make shirts...

Sep 19, 2008 2:29 PM Permalink