Hello again, from the lucky state of Virginia that nature is embracing with wildfires, an earthquake, and a hurricane all in the same week. C’mon, nature. C’mon. Ironically, today is an absolutely beautiful day in the ‘burg.

In 24 hours, it’s going to be a different story. We’re in the “cone of uncertainty” that hurricane Irene will be striking, and there are evacuations taking place as close as 45 minutes away from us to the East. Some of our fellow students have decided to get the heck out of dodge and head west before the storm hits. We’re still not positive what we’re going to do. We feel like if our own city doesn’t tell us to evacuate, we don’t really need to. But the list of evacuations keeps changing and we may very well change our minds! We spent the day preparing for what is likely to be a week without power if we do stay here.

A little grill to cook on…

Water to drink and cook with…

Non-perishable foods…

If the storm knocks our power out, you won’t be seeing me (obviously) until we get it back on. I’ve been talking to people that are from here and last time a storm like this came through, the ‘burg lost power for over a week. Hopefully it won’t come to that, but if I disappear for a while I’m (probably) still alive and just camping out at home.

If you’re in the path of this hurricane, stay safe and good luck! I hope that the damage won’t be too bad, but it seems that everyone is preparing the best they can.

Thanks for reading and I HOPE to see you soon!

-Lauren