On the night of Hurricane Isabel, some people were ensconced in their rooms, gripping their flashlights and hoping they purchased enough bottled water.
Others, however, took a more lighthearted approach to the natural disaster.
"I watched some TV, played some video games," senior Chris Cusmano said. "Actually, the night of the hurricane I was one of those crazies out there playing football."
Though hundreds of thousands of people across the District are struggling with power outages, unreliable drinking water and inoperable traffic signs, Cusmano put a positive spin on the storm.
"I think we were pretty lucky we were on the outside," he said. "It was pretty neat, something different."
Like Cusmano, sophomore Mary Crom said she did not do anything to prepare for the hurricane-except for catching up on some much-needed rest and relaxation.
"I slept a lot, played board games, watched movies. I wasn't worried," she said.
Crom may not have been worried about Isabel, but other residents, such as junior Molly Ryan, made attempts to be prepared.
Ryan went shopping Wednesday night before the storm, but did not buy a flashlight, thinking that Hurricane Isabel would "not be that bad," she said.
Yet the power went off late Thursday night, and after being warned not to light candles in her room in Capital Hall, Ryan, a student in the Washington Semester program from St. Lawrence University in New York, trekked to Friendship Heights in search of a flashlight Friday morning.
Two hours and five sold-out stores later, Ryan was empty-handed.
"You dealt with what you were given," Ryan said, explaining that the threat of power being out through midweek prompted her to go against the restrictions and stock up on candles.
"You have to be able to see," Ryan said. "I don't want to trip and break my leg."
In general, however, most residents viewed Isabel with mild curiosity rather than abject fear.
"I went out just to look around and see what it was like in the afternoon [on Thursday]," junior Gifford Bloom said. "It was a little windy. We saw a tree fall down. But it wasn't really that bad."
Some D.C. residents would disagree that the storm was not "that bad," but how bad could something be that causes a few unexpected days of vacation?
"It just felt like a long weekend," freshman Dan Beardslee said. "I slept, ran and did homework, basically ... Obviously, I'm minimizing it," he added, "but I wasn't really worried. Not even during it."
Eagle Staff Writers Anne Godlasky and Mackenzie Ryan contributed to this report.
