Off the Court with Kaitlin Kozak
Sunday, November 6, 2005
The last couple of weeks, to say the least, have been hectic due to Hurricane Wilma that struck Miami two Monday’s ago. We had just flown home from North Carolina that Sunday and had the day to prepare for it. Because forecasters had been predicting the hurricane for over a week, we knew it was coming. Over the course of the last four years in Miami, I really had never experienced a true hurricane until this year. A native from Pennsylvania, the only natural disasters (if you even want to call them that) I have been through were snow and ice storms. For most of my teammates and I, hurricane season was a new experience.
Hurricane Wilma hit very early on Monday morning. I actually opted to stay at a friend’s apartment because my roommate decided to flee Miami. I knew what to expect because Miami was hit by Hurricane Katrina in early September. Even though only minor damage was done to the city, it was quite an experience living without power for a week. The night before Wilma hit, I made sure I had gas in my car and a few non-perishable items to eat. Although Wilma was forecasted to be stronger than Katrina, I’m not a person to worry over these kinds of things (I don’t know if that is good or bad). I went to bed at normal time and at about 5:00 am I woke up to piercing sounds of wind and rain. From that point on I was in and out of sleep for the next four hours. At times, the wind was so loud it was impossible to not be concerned. At 6 am we lost power and had no idea when it was ever going to turn back on.
The Hurricane was completely over late that morning and as soon as it was safe I went outside to see what kind of damage was done. Trees were destroyed, power lines were down, and the city was not looking its beautiful self. I immediately drove over to my apartment to see what damage was done. Besides the debris covering the streets, everything appeared to be ok. Because 90% of Miami lost power, including myself, we had off of school for the rest of the week.
The only good thing that came from Wilma was the beautiful weather. The humidity disappeared (which is rare in Miami) and the sun was shining in a bright blue sky. The temperature was perfect, which made our non- air-conditioned apartments and houses bearable! The most aggravating thing about not having power is the finding food to eat. There were very few places in the city open and even grocery stores had lost power. All of the food in my refrigerator was ruined and granola bars became the popular thing to eat. On one of the days, my coach invited us over to her house for a barbeque. It was the first good meal I had eaten in a couple days. The rest of the week I didn’t do much. We had practice during the afternoon and in the evenings my friends and I often played board games or cards.
By the end of the week I was ready for school to start and my life to get back to normal. I had missed three exams and I knew they were going to be rescheduled for the following week. It was difficult to study throughout the week because it got dark quickly; candles and flash lights did not create the best learning environment. The end of the week was finally here and our Friday night volleyball game was still on. It was moved from 7pm to 4pm due to curfew that was put on the city. I went to the football game on Saturday afternoon and had another volleyball game on Sunday.
I finally got electricity back on Sunday. It was the best feeling to take a warm shower, watch television, and relax in the air-conditioning. The rest of the week I spent studying for the three exams I had on Thursday. Thursday afternoon our team left for Atlanta to play Georgia Tech and Clemson. We beat Georgia Tech who is ranked second in the ACC! We lost a very tight match to Clemson. We returned home yesterday and had the day off. We have three more weeks of games and then we wait to see if we get into the NCAA tournament. This upcoming week is our last set of away matches-we travel to University of Virginia and Virginia Tech.
