During our first week back to the oh-so tiring calendar of classes, our hopes and dreams were destroyed by a storm system that broke its way into the impenetrable Milli-bubble. Just as dinner was coming into full swing and students were happily munching their hamburgers and ice cream cones, the sky grew darker and darker. I left the cafeteria just as numerous others were running in, panicking about the oncoming doom.

Ahead of us in the direction of Weck Hall, my home and haven, the skies seemed clear. They were taunting us, giving us a clear incentive. For behind RTUC, the weather wasn’t nearly as kind in appearance. The skies weren’t their regular shade of blue; rather, they were an array of ominous shades of black. Lightening shook the ground with bouncing light.

I looked back in the direction of Weck and took off running.

I was one of the lucky ones. I made it inside just before the sky opened up and poured a soy-scented rainy fury onto those unfortunate enough to be outside. Screams echoed across campus as those students rushed to get to safety. The roads and parking lots began to flood, cars trapped in the swelling waters. The drops pounded menacingly off the roof and windows, creating waterfalls.

The outside world was trapped in hell. Me? I was simply in purgatory.

Hell began for those of us inside much later. As the storm raged on, we clung to our personal methods of communication. “Is everyone alright out there?” “Did you make it in okay?” “Do you think this storm will ever end?!”

And then… nothing. Silence. The power cut out briefly, leaving us with only the emergency lights and the flashes from outside. Even worse, rest in peace, so did the Wi-Fi. The entirety of Weck went into mass panic. No Spotify? No Facebook? NO TWITTER??

We were doomed.

But then I wondered, whatever happened to the days when we didn’t need Wi-Fi? When personal social interaction was enough? We are so privileged in our abilities to communicate across campus, cities, states and even numerous time zones that it seems somehow impossible to handle when we can’t.

I think that it may be time to let this first world problem fade into the darkness and, for once, embrace the storm.