Yeah right! My time at Drew did not end up being at all like I had thought it would be. I had done a bunch of work to prepare for the classes prior to my arrival and I was really looking forward to the time away as almost a retreat. Yes, I knew I'd be living in a college dormitory and would probably be donning my flip-flops to go shower down the hall (thankfully we ended up in a suite with a bathroom!) and would be eating in a dining hall, but I was still looking forward to it.
To be honest, I was almost to the point of being desperate for time away. Church is good, but I have just been seeking some Sabbath time. Well, ... this is what happened literally within minutes of my arrival on campus...
Yeah, that's my car. Or what was left of it. Completely destroyed. Just for perspective on the whole situation, though, I'll add that I had just come out the door you see on the left (under the trunk of the tree) and was literally within steps of the car. I heard what sounded like gunshots and thought someone was deer hunting. Well, out of the corner of my eye I saw leaves rustling overhead, realized it was a tree coming down and took off running for the building.
As you can see from the pics, I wasn't far from the building and it was key coded so I knew I wouldn't have time to get the door open. I literally ran for my life without actually having any sense of what direction the tree was falling. I'm just glad to be alive. A car can be replaced.
So after regaining my senses (and going to get my phone) I started the parade of phone calls...
When this bobcat thing tried to lift the tree off the car it lifted the whole car off the ground, it was so wedged into the top of the car!
Really had the grounds guys stumped. Oh, and I guess you can see this all happened in the middle of a bright and sunny Sunday afternoon...
The remains of the tree. Weird, huh?
Yeah, EVERYONE came out to look! There were deer all over the place on the campus - I was only able to get this one, but there were actually 5 at the same time - 3 babies :)
Yeah, what a great start to my 2 weeks of study and spiritual renewal :( I had 2 intensive classes - each for a total of 40 hours over a 2-week period plus assignments and papers at night and I think it was the 8th day (of 10 class days) before I got through a class without having to leave to take a car related phone call. Ugh.
The short story is that Nationwide means closer to most-of-the-nation-except-new-jersey than it does literally NATIONwide. No little guys with blue phones in the whole state.
Despite the car part, though, it was a good experience. I absolutely loved one of my classes and the other one, a required "How to write a dissertation" sort of class did its job and I feel much better about the whole idea of a project/dissertation/publication idea than I did before I went, so that's good!
Now I am glad to be home, but tomorrow the real fun begins -- CAR SHOPPING! As much as I was totally frustrated throughout the process with Nationwide, I have to say that they came through in the end and I am satisfied with my settlement. We'll see tomorrow what that translates to!
(another post below just put up today as well...)
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