The Friday night before the hurricane, I had no idea that there was even a tropical storm heading our way. I actually had a great night downtown, in the Quarter. Me and a bunch of friends had got tickets to see a ragae band cover Pink Floyd\'s Dark Side of the Moon. It was a really good concert, with really good beer. I remember showing up a my apartment afterwards, and my roomate had work that night, so he was up watching t.v.. I remember him saying that there was a storm coming our way, but we hear that all the time. I went to sleep and thought nothing of what he had said. That was the last night I ever spent in my apartment.\r\n\r\nWhen I woke up the next morning, my roomate informed me of the progress. It was coming right for us now, but I still thought it wasn\'t that big of a deal. I waited to hear that school would be canceled, then I grabbed a few things and prepared to go to my parent\'s house. Between the time we left and my packing, we talked to several people who made this hurricane seem like a big deal. My downstairs neighbor had never left in three years for a hurricane, he would just wait them \r\nout. He came upstairs and told us he was packing everything, not planning to return. That worried me. I packed a few more things, mostly clothes and music equiptment. Then, my roomate\'s brother in law told us that he was doing the same. He was another one who regularly stayed through the storms. That worried me even more. I still wasn\'t convinced that I needed to grab everything, a thought that I regret now, knowing what happened. I even left my car and rode with my roomate. I expected to return to school in a few days, so I figured I would save gas by hopping a ride. I was wrong.\r\n\r\nWhen I returned to Alexandria, I just hung out with some old friends and kinda forgot about the storm, even though my parents kept the television on the weather channel, calling me with updates. I kept telling them to chill out, I had seen plenty of these and that it would change direction or lose momentum. I played a game of cards Sunday night and came home late. I wish I hadn\'t of woke up to see what I saw the next day.\r\n\r\nThe t.v. was loud when I woke up. I just remember not believing what I was seeing. There was no way that this was real. I was always told in Geology class that New Orleans was ill-prepared for a strong hurricane, but I didn\'t really think it could happen. Everyone from Alexandria was calling me asking if I was okay and if I knew what was going on. How could I not? I was getting short-tempered due to the idea that I lost everything, my apartment, my car, my school, my friends. I still thought I was safe, though. I would say, \"My place is fine, I\'m on the second floor.\" There was no way that my place was ruined. I kept hearing rumors of the different parts of town. I would hear that my place was dry, then the next minute hear that it was destroyed. It was hard to concentrate on my part of town, when so much chaos engulfed the rest of the city. New Orleans became the vocal point of conversation and the main focus of attention. It was kinda ridiculous. \r\n\r\nWe didn\'t get a chance to return for quite some time. Just enough time for me to worry about it to the point of insanity. The anticipation was too much. When we did get to come back, we had to take some back road highways to reach Metairie. It took me and my dad close to 7 hours to drive a 3 hour drive. We passed thousands of cop cars and firetrucks from around the U.S. On the way, we passed several areas full of tents, it was quite remarkable. I was in awe when we hit the city to see all the devastation. I lost most of my hopes on the way. When we did reach my apartment, it didn\'t really look that bad, so we checked my car first. It started right away and didn\'t have any apparent damage. I was extremely hopeful for my apartment now, as I assumed my car would be the problem. When I tried to open my apartment door, it felt kinda stuck, and I could hear the sound of a waterfall. I rammed the door open and saw the ruins. My roof had collapsed. I was in disbelief, we lived on the second floor. This was not even a thought. My roof? The sky was visible and the sun was shining. It wasn\'t raining, but it was in my apartment. The pipes had busted and the water was still pouring out about a week after the intial storm. I had to grab some boots, but I knew I couldn\'t stay long. The smell was awful. Mold had engulfed my apartment and I felt sick immediatly. Drywall was covering everything and nothing was visible. I had to remember where all my stuff was. When I was a kid, I was asked if my house was burning, what would I save? I was living that question at my apartment. I was just frantically running around looking for nothing. I called my roomate, poor James, and said, \"Everything is ruined, do you want me to try to save anything?\" He just stuttered a bunch in shock, and then my phone died. I felt sick and speechless for about a week afterwards. I returned to town, having to answer questions from everybody and hear how there all sorry. Over and over.\r\n\r\nI\'m just glad that I continue my senior year at UNO and that FEMA will attempt to take care of us all. My regards goes out to those who lost family and friends. I hope all can rebound from this tragedy and recover better than ever. Just listen to some happy music and try to take everything in stride. New Orleans, don\'t worry, be happy.