After a relaxing fall break, everyone started preparing their arsenals of Nerf guns, marshmallow shooters, balled up socks, and dance moves for the upcoming zombie apocalypse. Some of my friends had literally been stocking up on supplies, modding Nerf guns, and even practicing missions for weeks. It's a good thing they knew their stuff, for I probably wouldn't have survived to tell this tale without their aid and superior zombie-fighting expertize.
It all started that Monday; the infection had been detected in three unlucky souls at midnight, whom for the first morning were free to roam through the humans undetected and infect as many other humans as they could in a struggle to satisfy their undying hunger for human brains. In other words, everyone playing started as a "human" wearing the orange bandana on their left arm, and 3 people were selected to be the original zombies. These three could then touch any human to "infect" them and thus, turn them into zombies, now wearing the orange bandana around their forehead. See the official rules and stats here: http://inside.mines.edu/~mmazzocc/rules). I heard horror stories from that first morning physics class.
That week, I proceeded to learn quite a bit about myself, my study habits, and my ability to cope in high stress environments. Here are some tips I came up with for surviving a zombie apocalypse (as well as for staying organized and doing well on your next exam):
- Lesson #1: carry everything you need with you for the day on your back. This means nerf gun, marshmallows, marshmallow blow gun, foam sword, extra socks, the works, as well as other things like homework and books (there is an art to this however, because carrying too much means being weighed down and not as agile at escaping). The Monday of the infection after a sneaky lunch at Einstein's, I found myself stuck in the next building I had a class in. Thinking it was not worth the risk or effort to go back to my room in the short time between classes, I resorted to pulling out my Calc book and studying. I may have to thank the zombies for my score on that next Calculus test with all the extra studying I got done that week.
- Lesson #2: know your surroundings, and never underestimate the tenacity of the zombies. Later that evening after studying in another building for several hours, three of us were ambushed by a group of zombies as late as 9:00pm! Many bad situations like this are avoideded by simply checking behind your back and around corners, so do it constantly!
- Lesson #3: plan ahead and always give yourself extra time. As a human, I began changing my habits; I left for classes at least 15 or even 30 minutes early to avoid the hourly rush of students, and every night I sat down and made a game plan for the next day, including each class, meeting, and every place I had to go to for the whole day so I would know what I needed to carry with me and when I needed to think of a creative escape route. After a close call, I also decided to make a point to start doing online homework the night before the night it's due. The same night as the first ambush, I had online economics homework due at midnight. After all the time it took for us to call in reinforcements and make our way back to the dorms, I was very close to missing the deadline. I thought I had it bad on normal nights trying to get it done in time.
- Lesson #4: check out the other cool places to eat and study on campus. If one thing's for sure, nobody ever survived a zombie apocalypse by eating at the same old cafeteria for every meal. After the experience of being a human running from zombies for a week, I happened upon multiple places to eat, play the piano, hang out, and study inside buildings and in places I never knew existed. Take advantage of the awesome place you're going to college at!
- Lesson #5: strength is in numbers, and communication is key. As it was understood that the chances of survival were much greater with someone to walk with you and watch your back, fellow humans instantly became friends, which served as a great way to meet people. I also learned that when traveling with a larger group of humans, basic commands and formations were essential when facing large hoards of zombies. Make sure there is clear communication throughout your group of humans.
- Lesson #6: don't go out and play in the snow when you've been temporarily locked out of your room and all you have is a bag of marshmallows as a weapon. I am the only known survivor of this folly...
- Lesson #7: never lose hope! you never know when you'll find an antidote out there. And even if you do become a zombie, have fun with it! Many people actually prefer the zombie side of the game; however, I'm one of those who would much rather fight.
After everyone was done throwing snowballs, our floor proceeded to celebrate Halloween by carving pumpkins, reverse trick-or-treating (coming to other people's doors at the dorm, making them say "trick-or-treat", and then giving them candy), and attending a surprisingly really fun Halloween dance/party night put on by the Residence Hall Association. I had much more fun dancing with friends than I think I ever could have if I payed a lot of money to go to some crazy concert in Denver. Just goes to show that you really don't need to spend a lot of money to have fun as a college student.
Needless to say, it was the coolest Halloween ever. :)
