Long dark night

The power went out twice last night for a big chunk of Ilam Village. The streetlights were on, but about half the apartment blocks went dark in one fell swoop.

The first outage, I went off and took a walk. Ran into the two other Wheaton students at the nearest store (me looking for shampoo, them picking up groceries). Other people trickled outside; someone took up guitar on the nearest lawn.

After maybe half an hour, the lights came back on, followed shortly by the Internet. An hour or so later, everything went out again. There was this mass outcry – you could hear the uproar from the next building over.

This round actually got me to (gasp!) interact with my flatmates. The guys were both out, but Sam and Nicole were still around; Nicole had been hanging out in the living room with a couple of candles. After the lights came back (for good this time), they mixed up some drinks (I passed) and we talked. Around midnight we migrated to one of the flats next door, for company, more drinks, and increasingly incoherent conversation. (Not that that’s a bad thing: I was increasingly exhausted, so Intelligent Discussion would have flown right over my head. We didn’t stumble back to our building until after two.)

Sam’s from Massachusetts; she’s actually been to Wheaton for athletic events. Also a Twilight fan, studying chemistry, and early in the night got into an impassioned rant about how put off she was by homophobic slurs she’d heard around town. Nicole’s an NZ native, into psychology. (As you might have guessed, Sam carried a lot of the conversation.)

So! Thanks to the power failure, a good night. Though I may need one more nap to fully recover.