<div>Piling into a car and shipping off to someone’s roommate’s aunt’s cousin’s house a roadtrip away can be stressful. Especially when you don’t know if you need to pack a few day’s worth of underwear or two weeks! Hurricane Helene is set to barrel right past Eckerd’s campus as a category three today, and Eckerd students have been told to evacuate until the all-clear is sent out. Has waiting around left you restless? Losing your mind? Perhaps your professors are still assigning work during the hurricane? Or maybe you have nothing to do and you’re spiraling? Well, you are not alone. Clearly, I am also struggling in the absence of my busy schedule. To quote President James J. Annarelli in an email he sent to the Eckerd community on Wednesday afternoon, “It is particularly during times of challenge that I am reminded of the incredible strength, dedication, and resiliency of the Eckerd College community.”As Eckerd students are scattered all over Florida, Georgia and beyond thanks to Hurricane Helene, we can work together to ensure we stay sane while we wait to get the go-ahead from Campus Safety that we can return. I have curated a storm-themed playlist to get you in the hurricane spirit and prevent the evacuation blues. Feel free to give it a listen while you think up some ways of how you’re going to wait out the storm.One way you can pass the time is napping. This is a classic hobby that college students can’t seem to get enough of. Film marathons are brilliant time-killers. Consider: every Harry Potter movie, every Timothée Chalamet movie, “Gilmore Girls” or your top five Halloween movies, seeing it’s almost October. During movie marathons, you can eat junk with minimal guilt, try out a jigsaw puzzle and paint your nails or dye your hair. Baking is a healthy way to kill some time and connect with your body better than microwave ramen ever could. If you’re looking for a cute way to enjoy some food, you can also bake a heart-shaped pizza or other heart-shaped delicacies. Although carving each piece of pepperoni into a heart is quite tedious, the concept is pretty straight forward, and it always comes out adorable. Enjoy your break from the cafeteria and their broken dishwasher while you have one. Assuming that your safety is not at risk, hurricanes can be a great time to stop putting off your to-do list. That book you saw on Instagram and checked out from the Eckerd library three weeks ago? The one you keep renewing? Open it. That friend from high school you’ve been meaning to call? Call them! Sort through your photos, finish that series your sister told you to stream, watch a ton of videos on astrology, the history of the Ottoman Empire or something else you’ve been meaning to learn way too much about. Clean out your email, spiff up your LinkedIn, write some terrible poems. Or you can simply lay and stare at the ceiling if that’s what you need to do. Try not to spiral. Your campus crush will be there when you get back and your routine can take the backseat for a few days. </div>

Mountain View, CA

NewsBreak

Waiting out Hurricane Helene doesn’t have to wear you down

Piling into a car and shipping off to someone’s roommate’s aunt’s cousin’s house a roadtrip away can be stressful. Especially when you don’t know if you need to pack a few day’s worth of underwear or two weeks!. Hurricane Helene is set to barrel...