Dear Editor,

Hurricane Gustav came as a shock to many. I would call it deja vu. As the city prepares to venerate the third anniversary of Hurricane Katrina, the ‘father-in-law’ or ‘ugly stepbrother’ of all storms was making its way towards New Orleans, bringing back many emotions and past experiences.

Loyola took swift action, cancelled classes and evacuated the dorms. My experience landed me in Baton Rouge, La., at Louisiana State University with some old high school friends.

I have to say that my evacuation started as a very interesting one. My entire family had plans for Labor Day weekend; therefore, they were separated throughout the country: Boston, Denver, Atlanta, New York and even Miami.

My thoughts were that nothing would be better than a good time at LSU, with a taste of LSU football. During my time in Baton Rouge, my friends and I went to a football game, ran around the city for four hours looking for gas and even spent the day before the storm at a friend’s lake house on the False River, fully equipped with a jet boat and four personal watercrafts. I was not going to complain.

Late that night after returning from the lake house, we went to stay at a relative’s condo complex on the LSU lakes with my aunt and uncle who returned from New York to be close to home. For two days, we all hung around, watched television and looked as trees were being blown across the lakes.

The fun really began for me when the peak of the storm was ramming through Baton Rouge. Little did I know I would become the center of laughter and mocking by my own best friends.

The fans blades were being blown from the ceiling fan on the porch, so I decided that the best action was to run outside and retrieve them so that they would not be flying projectiles through our windows.

After the third blade, I was running back inside, and the actual fan was ripped from the ceiling and slammed on my head. Wow, did that one hurt!

Nevertheless, I was OK. I was on the first floor walking around, and then I noticed a chair being tossed around the courtyard. Once again, not wanting this to be a projectile, I ran outside to fetch it. I was not half way to the chair, when I felt myself be partially lifted from the ground, and the next thing I knew, I was swimming in the pool.

This time, I was determined not to let the storm get the best of me. Therefore, I got out of the pool and went inside, where I was surrounded by four walls. I knew the interesting part of my trip was over, the storm was over and then I knew real work was going to begin. I ended up going to my aunt’s office with in-laws, where they had a generator powering the building, to help with clean up.

There I became a master tree cutter and almost had to sleep with my chainsaw. Working endlessly for three days, I helped clean up and made sure that all my friends were fed.

I do have to say the best part of the whole storm was being with my best friends, being with family and most importantly returning home to a safe New Orleans and to Loyola.

Sincerely,Jonathan Rowanfinance junior