4am Wake-Up Call, Duke Game Preparation and More

I am a resident advisor in my dorm and am therefore responsible for "promoting a safe and inclusive living and learning environment for the residents on my floor." In other words, I change the bulletin boards on the hall, put up flyers (most of the time), and am on "duty" about four times a month. Being on duty simply means working the desk until the office closes so residents can check out cleaning supplies, games, movies, cooking supplies, spare keys, anything that the Department of Housing budget deemed necessary (aka affordable) for dorm life. After the office closes, we hold the on-call phone until the morning in case we are needed throughout the night. In my entire 3-year tenure as an RA, I think I have gotten a call to the duty phone twice. The first was at 2:30 from a resident who felt lightheaded and needed ambulance assistance to the emergency room and the second was a freshman frat pledge who had been unsuspectingly locked out of his room by his pledge brothers. So when the phone rang at 4:35am, it took me a few minutes to realize what was making such an obnoxious noise. This is the scene that followed:

Me (in a groggy voice): "Hello. This is the RA on duty."

Boy: "Hey. Are you busy?"

Me (glancing at the clock): "Um, no?"

Boy: "Can you come to [resident room number]? I have kind of an embarrassing situation."

Me: "Sure, I'll be right there."

I threw on my jacket, thinking he had locked himself out of his room with minimal clothing or had drunkenly thrown up all over the floor, both very plausible events to take place on a Thursday night in Chapel Hill. As I approached the hallway in his building, I saw him standing in the hall.

Me: "Hey! What's up?"

Boy: "Hey, um, how do you feel about a bug?"

Me (silently): "Dear Lord, if this guy has woken me up at 4:30 in the morning to kill a bug in his room..."

Me (aloud): "Not so great, why?"

Boy: "Well one just crawled under my dresser and I get really queezy around bugs."

At this point, I knew it had to be a practical joke. Maybe I was getting Punk'd and the MTV crew would run out from their hiding places. But he had no roommate and his door was the only one open on the hall, making it a pathetic joke at that, but hey, people get their kicks different ways. I decided to humor him, looking in his room for a peek at this monstrosity of a bug that caused him to awaken me from my peaceful slumber. I saw nothing.

Me (stifling the laugh that was now lodged in the base of my throat): "I'm not really sure what you want me to do."

Boy: "I mean, can you see if it'll like come out from under the dresser and then like kill it or something?"

Me (searching his face for a hint of a smile in his genuinely serious expression, to no avail): "Okay?"

I walked over, kicked the side of the dresser and stood back, waiting for something to crawl out from under it, still stupefied that I was actually part if this bizarre scenario. Nothing happened.

Me: "I'm not sure what else I can do. You can email maintenance and they'll come out tomorrow and spray your room for bugs, but I really can't stand here waiting for a bug all night."

Boy: "Okay, that's fine. Thanks."

To my shock, he closed the computer that had been opened to what looked like chemistry notes, packed it in his bookbag, grabbed the pillow from his bed and said, "I'll just sleep in the lounge. I really hate bugs."

I still don't know if he was trying to play a joke, but regardless, here's what I have to say about this incident:

1. WHY would you ever even think to call the RA about a bug?! At 4:30am?!

2. WHY would you ever think that a female RA, who once caused a scene at work because of a June bug on the ground, would be of more assistance?

My only class of the day is at 10:00 on Friday mornings, so after tossing and turning the rest of the night after the "bug" situation, I was less than thrilled to hear my alarm go off at 9:00. I dragged myself out of bed, ate breakfast in a daze, and then made the hike to the Drama building. I was joined by about half my classmates (I knew attendance would be low on the day Spring Break starts), and my teacher looked mystified that we were sitting in the seats of the auditorium in front of her. She said, "What are you all doing here? I sent an email this morning canceling class."

Deadpan expression.

Normally, a day like this would have sent me running back to my dorm room, closing the blinds and falling asleep until I could try again with a fresh start tomorrow morning, but it's hard to be dismal with the buzz surrounding the upcoming UNC vs. Duke game. The excitement and anticipation on campus is contagious as sports fans everywhere prepare to watch one of college basketball's biggest rivalry games take place.

Today in the pit, T-shirts were being sold, games were being played, Roy Williams stopped by to give a pep talk to the students waiting in line for lunch (he had lost his voice at the Florida State game but his inspirational speech was nothing less than moving

and could bring a tear to even the most unenthusiastic Carolina student's eye), basketball players were taking pictures with those brave enough to hold out their camera, and the Dunk a Dooky dunking booth was in full swing.

I walked up on the booth just in time to catch a Dooky in a sombrero splash into the chilly water below, luckily capturing his downfall on film. I bought a Duke Week T-shirt to wear to the game tomorrow night and waved hi to John Henson as he passed by. It's time to show that pathetic excuse for a basketball team how the game is supposed to be played tomorrow night at 8pm in the Dean Dome, and I'll be there to witness it happen!

Go Heels,

Nicole