Hurricane Ivan was the first monster hurricane I've ever been through. I didn't actually go through it, though; I ran from it. Upon returning to Fort Walton Beach, I found the disaster half-cleaned up.

Don't get me wrong. The town has drastically changed. There are downed trees, missing fences, and ruined homes everywhere. You can even see boats scattered along Highway 98. Yard waste and debris still line most of the streets in town. I would hate to have seen this place before the cleanup started.

Pensacola is even worse than FWB. Driving back to the University, I saw entire neighborhoods with blue tarps over their roofs. Most of the trees still standing had been stripped of all their leaves by the winds, giving the entire city an eerie, dead appearance. Campus has changed significantly, too. Where there were once dense forests, you can now see all the way down to the Bay.

As I said, Ivan is the first monster hurricane I've ever been through. My home town has been changed forever, and I will never forget this. It is a very strange feeling.

This disaster leads me to ponder a statement left by a fellow UWF student on the UWF website. She said she stayed in Pensacola during the Hurricane, but left for her home in Tallahassee afterwards because she "got tired of not being able to cook." She went on to say that students who were "serious about their coursework" could drive to Tallahassee and use the library there to do their homework.

I think this girl is an insensitive moron. Not everyone could just leave for their home when they get tired of having no electricity. For many students here, this is our home, and we don't have the luxury of leaving. Also, she insuated that "serious" students could drive a few hours to another city and get their homework done any way possible. Are you f*cking kidding me!? Some people can't even live in their houses anymore! You think they give a damn about schoolwork? More than that, you think they should give a damn about schoolwork!?

Arguing with this student, as well as the destruction in my home town, has made me realize how bad these natural disasters really are. Florida was hit by four major hurricanes in the last two months. All of them caused devastation, but you end up not thinking about it because all you hear about in this area is Ivan. But there are still people who have no homes because of Charley, Frances, and Jeanne, whether we hear about it or not. And what about people's lives destroyed because of tornadoes in Oklahoma, or earthquakes in California, or mud slides in some country I can't even find on a globe? We only hear about it for a day or two on the news, but those people are changed forever.