As soon as the cougar alert got sent out Monday 2:33 all hell broke loose. Students rushed to put all their laundry in because a hurricane must be a really good reason for everyone to all of a sudden wash their clothes.

My original plan of evacuating with my roommate, two suitemates and best friend to Macon began to crumble.

My suitemates decided they wanted to fly home so they bought tickets on a flight out of Charleston to Virginia for the next day. I called my mother on the phone and she offered to fly me home, so I took her up on it. Flights were booking up fast and going up in price. I snagged a United Flight out of Charleston at 3:45. My roommate's mom was coming to pick her and our friend up that night from their home in Bluffton.

Our room was a swirl of running around, cleaning, stacking things on our lofted bed and packing vigorously. I talked with my suitemates about catching an Uber to the airport early in the morning to give us more than enough time to get through the, what I assumed would be, really packed airport security.

Good thing they rechecked their flight because it was scheduled for the wrong date, they called their mother and it turns out all flights to Virginia had since been canceled.

So I was now alone to wake up and go to the airport. Then there was talk about them going to Macon with my roommate so their mother could meet them, little to find out my roommate was going straight to Macon she was going home. This unsettled all of us because she still lived on the coast.

I had recalled my mom and told her flying out of Atlanta might be better and its good I did because as soon as I got off the phone I got a notification that my flight might have been canceled or delayed because of the impending weather. My best friend Thomas ended up calling his mother, who said earlier that she would drive to pick him up, to tell her the changing situation.

She immediately got in the car. But told us that we needed to find a way to make it to Columbia on our own because it would be easier. We threw everything together frantically, last minute showering and looked for Ubers to Columbia. The prices were going up so at 8:40 we ordered our Uber, signed out of our residence hall and waited outside. We shoved our duffel bags in the back of the little car and filed in.

We caught a little bit of traffic but other than that the about two-hour car ride went smoothly. Along with the little cricket that hitched a ride. We got dropped off at a family friendly home in Columbia and waited patiently for Thomas' mother to show up. Part one of our hectic trip is complete.

It had begun to rain by the time his mother pulled in the driveway and we climbed into the car for our three hours and forty-five-minute drive to Thomas' sister's house just outside Atlanta. There was a short stop at a McDonalds but other than that we drove all the way through, everyone taking turns napping. We arrived at his sister's house around four to five in the morning and immediately climbed into bed.

We all woke up the next morning in a little bit of a grog around 10:30 and decided it was time to leave for the airport because we didn't know how security would be. We filed back into the car with Thomas driving and made our way to Atlanta airport. Luckily me, Kathryn and Morgan had no trouble getting through security except for the fact Morgan left her perfume in her bag.

We found our gates and decided to get food while we waited to begin boarding around 2. By four Chicago time, I was seeing the familiar skyline through the window seat on the plane.