A couple weeks ago I experienced every college student’s worst nightmare: running out of coffee. I couldn’t believe it. I reached into the Keurig tray only to find it full of empty disappointment. What was I supposed to do? It was Wednesday, my busy day. I didn’t have enough time to figure out a solution before my first class at nine a.m, but that wasn’t too much of a problem. I enjoy my first class, although I knew I was going to crash later, and I couldn’t let that happen.

On the way back to my dorm, I decided I’d just make a cup of tea because at least that has a little bit of caffeine. I had poured the water over my tea bag and went to the mini fridge to grab the milk only to come to the realization that I was out of that too. And you simply cannot have a cup of tea without milk, that would be a tragedy. No coffee and no tea? You might as well count me absent in all of my classes. Even if I was there physically, mentally, I was on a different plane.

My roommate told me I could buy some coffee pods from the market. I walked through the rain coming down to hopefully restock. Having never bought them from there, I had no idea where they were. She relayed to me that they were by the snack bars, so I looked by the Nutri Grain bars. Surprise! They weren’t there. My sleep and energy deprived mind had the hardest time finding the things, and once I did, I saw the price. Twelve dollars. For a small box of mediocre Keurig pods. No way. I left empty handed.

After my third class, I was getting more desperate for coffee, and some with a lot of caffeine. Sleep has never been my friend and all day classes that span across campus doesn't help. I thought to myself, "the cafeteria has those automatic coffee machines that have the Hazelnut Belgian coffee I like. That’s a good bet."

So I walked there. I grabbed a cup and tried to dispense my coffee. But guess what happens next? The coffee machine was out of order and I was out of luck. This is when I saw my friend, and evidently, he could see the distress on my face because he said,

“Oh shit, you haven’t had coffee yet, have you?”

The answer was obvious, no. He kindly reminded me about the small coffee station right on the side of the cafeteria that I had completely forgotten about because I had never been there. There had never been any need until now. I ordered a Turtle if I remember correctly. Don’t get me wrong, they make good coffee there, but this one just wasn’t for me. It tasted, in my opinion, like a glorified holiday hot chocolate, I could taste no trace of actual coffee.

I went straight back to my dorm from there, and I only had a little bit of downtime before my next class. I continuously drank my non-coffee coffee through the small hole on the lid, and I realized that it had already gone cold by the time I got to my room because of the cold temperature outside, the wind, and the light rain. I microwaved it and finished drinking it because, well, the show must go on.

I felt better after a little pick me up, and felt like I might be able to actually tackle my homework then. But man, that day was exhausting. To all college kids, or anybody actually, my advice is to always be aware of how much coffee you have and to never let yourself run out!