now that I have power and cell data here’s a thread of pure experiences that occurred during the 10 hour ic power outage:

sweet old man encouraged friend and I eating outside to “hurry home girls and get to where you need to be, the storm is comin”

scurried home and approx 20 steps away from apt storm started, friend ended up having to seek shelter in my living room and we watched tik toks in the dark (in retrospect, poor use of phone battery but it’s ok it soothed our anxiety in the moment)

met many new neighbors as we all stepped out into the hallway trying to figure out wtf was going on and they seem nice and chill

when storm lulled we ran to friend’s apt (literally across the street don’t worry!) to save her car moments away from being crushed by a tree

sat in friend’s living room for many hours and drank and played board games. + nice bonding w/ also stranded roommates!

heard sophomore boy neighbors playing go-fish in the hallway. very wholesome.

watched from window as men came to remove tree that nearly crushed the building. we clapped for them and he gave a thumbs up

were able to find warm food for dinner at hyvee in coralville. shoutout to hy-chi for being there in the darkest moments (pun intended)