Biblical Disasters, College Edition

So, I received  panicked call from one of my suitemates four days before I was set to return to campus.  Hadn't I received the call from the college's master? Our suite flooded! Shortly afterward, I received a cryptic email from the master saying that our suite had indeed flooded, and that some unspecified amount of stuff had been damaged or ruined.  My roommate, who found out at two in the morning, called me to flip out.  We bitched to each other about how a recently renovated dorm at a college with a lot of money shouldn't have hot water pipes bursting and destroying people's belongings.  And we concocted elaborate scenarios that had all of our clothing sitting as soggy messes after the water seeped into the wardrobes, our television short-circuiting, and our walls stained.

I came in on Saturday and found nothing wrong.  The only discernible damage was a couple curled floorboards in one of the rooms.  But since, due to our pipe, the ceiling of the suite below us fell in, we were exiled to another dorm three blocks away for the month it will take them to do the repairs.  I can live with the hassle of having to move all of my stuff at the beginning of the semester and then move it back during midterms.  At least none of my stuff was damaged.  And I can deal with the outrage that if any of my stuff had been ruined, the college wouldn't have paid me a dime for it.  But what I really can't stand is living with a bunch of freshmen.  I tried my best not to hate them, but they make it really hard.  I try to remember what I probably seemed like when I came in as a freshman, but it's like living with aliens, and I can't even explain why.

At least now when people ask me what I did for break, I have a story beyond, "Oh, you know.  I ate, slept and watched television."  Asking what people did for break is like asking them how they are: You're not expecting a real answer, but the connection that arises from your shared experience of an unexciting break.  It's exciting to me to have a story, even if the reality is somewhat inconvenient, since I usually find small talk so unbearable.  Little victories.