Earthquake!

As we all have heard by now, there was an earthquake yesterday. I happened to be lucky enough to experience it at Umass Boston. I was on the 8th floor of the library studying for an exam when the earthquake hit. It was one of the strangest experiences of my life. Everyone around me looked confused. I think it took us all time to register what was going on. Some people were a little panicked. It was especially scary when the light fixtures overhead were swinging. The library is a pretty sturdy building but it was shaking! I decided to grab my stuff (probably a bad idea considering) and head for the nearest doorway. By the time I made it there it was over! The whole thing only lasted about 30 seconds but it felt much longer.

About a minute after it ended they sounded the alarms. I walked down the 8 flights of stairs to get out of the library. This is were it gets weird. There were some Umass faculty telling us that we needed to leave campus. The campus was closed. No one was telling us why exactly. No one was confirming whether or not there had actually been an earthquake. So, now the entire student population is scattered outside around campus. Those who left in their cars were charged on the way out! Can you imagine, we are all pretty shaken and told that we have to leave campus but given no real reason. However, Umass was organized enough to make sure that no one left the parking lot without paying. This school really blows my mind.