Ode to Electricity

Kendra Campbell -- I love living out in the middle of nowhere on a small, isolated island in the Caribbean. Really, it has many advantages -- the premium one being an excellent environment in which to study. Most students have to deal with all kinds of distractions constantly calling them like sirens from the water. Many students have to be able to put up with the distractions of movie theatres, malls, bars and all kinds of potential fun things to do. I don’t. There isn’t really much to do for entertainment on this island.

Today, I went to campus to watch my lectures and then I came home to begin my studying. After a short period of studying, the electricity went off in my apartment. This is not a rarity here. In fact, it’s a very common occurrence. The electricity here is as reliable as most things are: not at all. It goes off all the time, because if one of the grids fail, they re-route electricity to the capital city, which needs it the most. Well, I don’t live in the capital, so this means that when a grid goes out, all the electricity in my town goes out. There are only a few places that have back-up generators in my town, so I packed up and walked down to the local café, where I knew they’d have some electricity.

I was here for about ten minutes, and then I heard the sound, which strikes fear in my heart. The generator went out. No more electricity! Let me also remind you that living on an island in the Caribbean during July means that it’s approximately 98 degrees right now. Without air conditioning, you quickly melt into a pool of sweat, which can become not only annoying to you, but is also offensive to the innocent bystanders beside you.

There is only one place that I know of close by that still has electricity: my school’s campus. To the majority of the students here, that would be a perfectly acceptable place to study. However, I am one of those rare folks that hate studying in a large group of people. I can’t stand sitting in a cold room with a bunch of people who are losing their minds trying to memorize thousands of drug names and biochemical pathways. I end up comparing myself to them, and getting stressed out by watching them study. I will study anywhere else besides the library or any of the little cubicles available.

So, here I am, sitting at the café, with only 12% of power left on my laptop, which will soon be gone, and no Internet connection or air conditioning. The pool of sweat underneath me is starting to offend the girls at the table next to me, and I’m seriously considering going to the beach to study, because at least then I can jump in the sea to cool off. There’s nothing like sea foam covered notes and highlighters filled with sand. Wherever you are reading this right now, be thankful that you have precious electricity!