note before reading: read this from a more comical perspective, rather than a 'this girl is a freaking psycho' perspective. It's meant to be funny, not sad.
I knew coming to Chile would inevitably bring with it the occurrence of earthquakes. Whether little rumblings or giant building sways, I would feel one, at some point, in some way. But I didn't think that my first earthquake experience would be the one that occurred just a half hour ago. I am currently sitting on the floor of my living room, unable to go back to sleep, jealous of my six other roommates who just did. So, I decided that it is the perfect time for a blog post! Surprisingly, the reason that I can't fall back asleep isn't for fear of another earthquake, or an aftershock, but simply because of the strangest reaction and thoughts that I had as I woke up from the terremoto (or earthquake in spanish). For those of you that know me well (or even those of you that don't) I am absolutely terrified of the dark, mostly due to the fact that it means that I can't see if someone comes into my room for malicious reasons. If I have had a bad dream, it takes me an hour or so to fall back asleep, and definitely requires the lights to be on as I do so. I recognize that this is a completely irrational fear, and that if I have checked every room, behind every door, under every bed there can't actually be a person in my room but a childhood fear of monsters has led way to the monsters becoming real life people. Anyway, this morning I must have been in the middle of a dream in which I thought that someone was in my room. Halfway in a dream state and an awake state, my bed begins to shake and so of course, my way of rationalizing this strange feeling is that there is someone under my bed. So I scream, like I kid you not I have never screamed before, because for as many times that I have had an awful dream with a completely crazy terrifying occurrence, there has never been physical evidence that matches it such as a bed shaking uncontrollably. So I let out a scream (obviously to let the imaginary person know I am aware of its presence) and ran for the door. I was shaking so much that I couldn't get the door opened very easily and when I finally did I stood panting in the doorway to the bathroom, staring at my room, still half waiting for the person to emerge out, but on the other hand incredibly confused. My scream sent one roommate out first, to check if I was ok, and then another, and then someone finally said, "I think that was an earthquake." And finally it all made sense, and I started laughing, although still incredibly shaken up (pun intended). Six out of the seven of us gathered in the living room, all having just had our first earthquake experience. No one was entirely sure if it was actually a big earthquake or if we were just really lame, so when a chilean news site that I follow on twitter finally tweeted about it, we realized that at least we all weren't completely crazy (just me). Of course, there were my two roommates who slept through the whole thing, only woken up by my scream and later the voices of everyone else trying to come to terms with the strange feeling of the bed shaking and building swaying. But in case anyone was wondering, it was a 5.9 on the richter scale, which I think is a pretty big deal. But who am I to say... I am just a crazy person who thought that my first earthquake experience was a psycho killer hiding under my bed.
I knew coming to Chile would inevitably bring with it the occurrence of earthquakes. Whether little rumblings or giant building sways, I would feel one, at some point, in some way. But I didn't think that my first earthquake experience would be the one that occurred just a half hour ago. I am currently sitting on the floor of my living room, unable to go back to sleep, jealous of my six other roommates who just did. So, I decided that it is the perfect time for a blog post! Surprisingly, the reason that I can't fall back asleep isn't for fear of another earthquake, or an aftershock, but simply because of the strangest reaction and thoughts that I had as I woke up from the terremoto (or earthquake in spanish). For those of you that know me well (or even those of you that don't) I am absolutely terrified of the dark, mostly due to the fact that it means that I can't see if someone comes into my room for malicious reasons. If I have had a bad dream, it takes me an hour or so to fall back asleep, and definitely requires the lights to be on as I do so. I recognize that this is a completely irrational fear, and that if I have checked every room, behind every door, under every bed there can't actually be a person in my room but a childhood fear of monsters has led way to the monsters becoming real life people. Anyway, this morning I must have been in the middle of a dream in which I thought that someone was in my room. Halfway in a dream state and an awake state, my bed begins to shake and so of course, my way of rationalizing this strange feeling is that there is someone under my bed. So I scream, like I kid you not I have never screamed before, because for as many times that I have had an awful dream with a completely crazy terrifying occurrence, there has never been physical evidence that matches it such as a bed shaking uncontrollably. So I let out a scream (obviously to let the imaginary person know I am aware of its presence) and ran for the door. I was shaking so much that I couldn't get the door opened very easily and when I finally did I stood panting in the doorway to the bathroom, staring at my room, still half waiting for the person to emerge out, but on the other hand incredibly confused. My scream sent one roommate out first, to check if I was ok, and then another, and then someone finally said, "I think that was an earthquake." And finally it all made sense, and I started laughing, although still incredibly shaken up (pun intended). Six out of the seven of us gathered in the living room, all having just had our first earthquake experience. No one was entirely sure if it was actually a big earthquake or if we were just really lame, so when a chilean news site that I follow on twitter finally tweeted about it, we realized that at least we all weren't completely crazy (just me). Of course, there were my two roommates who slept through the whole thing, only woken up by my scream and later the voices of everyone else trying to come to terms with the strange feeling of the bed shaking and building swaying. But in case anyone was wondering, it was a 5.9 on the richter scale, which I think is a pretty big deal. But who am I to say... I am just a crazy person who thought that my first earthquake experience was a psycho killer hiding under my bed.
