Hurricane Sandy

Welp, survived my first true natural diaster this week.  Hurricane Sandy hit NYC hard.  I live on the west side of the island  close to the water so things got pretty scary.  There were a lot of flickering lights and emergency sirens and the wind was so loud it sounded like a train.  My apartment didn't sustain any physical damage thank goodness but the apartments across the alley from me lost a few windows, an apartment in the basement of my building caught on fire (caused by candles), and the entire front collapsed off of a building down the street from me.  We lost power for almost a week, we had no heat or hot water either so we wore two sweatshirts and three pairs of socks to bed every night and kept the icy cold showers to a minimum.  All of the food in fridge went bad and our dog got sick (and the vet was closed with no power either).  It was pretty miserable and with work cancelled all week we both had nothing to do but sit in our dark, cold apartment all day eating cereal and pasta.  walking outside was useless because there were no open stores or parks or anything and people were yelling and pushing each other desperate to locate supplies.

But we were better off than some people, at least we had running water and a gas stove to cook with and no flood damage.  We were well prepared with flashlights and candles and food and books and downloaded movies so we were not desperate for supplies like other people.  We kept our phones charged using our computers and nearby friends with power and only turning them on periodically. I'm thankful we survived, I'm thankful there was little damage to our living space, and I'm thankful I had my fiance and my dog to keep me company.  I could not have gotten through this alone. Pietro kept us updated on the news and evacuations through his iphone using twitter.

It was an adventure that we learned from and will talk about forever but I hope will never have to experience again.