Everyone knows that Katy Perry song California Gurls right? This summer I got to travel to California for FCCLA Nationals with three of my best friends, and spoiler alert we should stay Wisconsin Gurls. From earthquakes, sunburns, and almost drownings we discovered very quickly that we were not made for CA.
The first day we arrived and checked into our hotel, we learned that there was one room separate from advisers, an entirely different floor, and guess who was lucky enough to get the envied room keys…you guessed it ;). The room had floor to ceiling windows, a huge living space, and doubled the size of everyone else’s. Being left unsupervised gave us lots of time to do whatever we wanted. Naturally we chose to watch the movie San Andreas. If you’ve seen the movie you know that it talks about earthquakes occurring along the San Andreas fault line that borders California and Nevada. While watching the movie we decided that it would be “So Cool” to experience an earthquake.
On our last morning in Cali, we were busy packing our bags when all of a sudden I noticed the TV shaking back and forth. As I pointed it out to the others, we noticed that outside in the courtyard palm trees were swaying really bad and light poles were rocking. Here’s the idiot part, remember those floor to ceiling windows? Well we all went and stood in them. For anyone who doesn’t know, standard earthquake protocol is stay away from windows, and hide under desks or stand in doorways. As everything continued to shake we stood like idiots wondering what was happening. Once the shaking stopped an announcement came over the speakers informing us that a 6.4 magnitude earthquake had just hit southern California and we had been experiencing after shocks from almost 30 miles away. Sadly, that was the only earthquake/ aftershocks we got to experience the rest of our trip, but it was definitely one of the coolest things I have ever experienced.
Who Knew What a Few Idiots Could do 