Courage under fire

Becca left for Florida early yesterday morning and won't be returning until next Wednesday. At approximately 2:30 yesterday afternoon she called me from home and her first words were, "T.J., your [room] keys are in my bag!" I thought, "no way" and reached over to my sling bag where they should be attached to the key chain to confirm her error and that they were really there...but they weren't. Suddenly, every sweat pore on my body opened up: Becca has my keys. Becca is in Florida. My keys are in Florida. My keys are in Florida until Wednesday. I am going to be locked out of my room, and indeed the building, for a week and a half. Even if I get let into my room by my landlady I'll have to risk leaving the door unlocked and basically be a prisoner in the room anyway, as I'll be relying on sneaking into the locked building by chancing that someone comes out as I need to get in. Oh, that's a dilly of a pickle. This instantly flashed through my mind and then I took a breath and calmly said, "It's fine, let me call the landlady" without even a quiver in my voice. I called and coolly explained the situation. She said “no problem”, that she would leave the office copy of my room key and a building key on my bed, and that she'd leave the door unlocked for me. The only condition was that I'd have to go out that afternoon and get copies made of her office keys in case of an emergency. It was good I caught her when I did as she was leaving at 4:00 on the dot - an hour before I usually get home - so if I hadn’t caught her before then I really would have been crushed testicles. After I got off the phone with her I called Becca back and soothingly promised that everything was fine, because in fact, it was.

I think yesterday's hurdle again illustrated to me that I have a talent for remaining calm and clear minded in the face of an imminent problem. The classical example I give (and have given on job interviews even) is the time I got lost in the Moscow subway system with the tour bus about to leave. Communist inefficiency gave Moscow the most beautiful subway system and stations in the world while the rural peasants starved. That famine was water under the bridge in 2001, and having heard that the Moscow subway system was not to be missed, I made it a point to see it if given the chance while in Moscow. My group was finishing up lunch with a larger group of touring students and we were given some free time before the bus left. A bunch of students took off to see the world's largest McDonald's (which I admit would have been cool) but two friends heard there was a subway station in the area and grabbed me to come along. We thought we'd just ride the escalator down, take a peek, and then come back up. However, at the bottom of the escalator was a long tunnel which as we walked along was eventually joined by *many* other tunnels leading to the platform. Past the point of no return it became clear to us that we were very lost. You'd have to be a mole person (or able to comprehend Russian) to get out. We figured we'd just keep going, find the platform, and hopefully follow some people out to some opening somewhere. We did find the platform, and it was so-so looking (the tunnels themselves actually had some good-looking carvings). It turned out we weren't even at one of the nicer stations. Anyway, at that point we were not thinking at all about the artwork but rather that our bus was leaving in fifteen minutes and we were lost! We finally made our way above ground by following people...but it didn't turn out to be the entrance we had gone in to! The three of us had no clue where we were. We had only minutes to find our group. Semester at Sea had made if very clear at that point in the voyage that no one would be waited for. If you weren't there when the bus (or ship) departed then you were on your own. I'll save Russia stories for another day but I can tell you now that to be on our own in that country would have been a bad thing. It was beautiful and possessed a rich culture, don't get me wrong, but crime was rampant. I was one of the lucky ones who didn't get pick pocketed, for example. Moscow was an overnight train ride away from St. Petersburg where our ship was, and I honestly don't think we could have ever made it back trouble-free. Thoughts of that first night alone were scary enough. I was sure daylight would find me lying in a gutter and my two female friends as sex slaves in Siberia. I don't think my soul would have gone to Heaven if I died in that country. I'm kidding, but just slightly; there really was legitimate cause for alarm. I was still calm (at least outwardly…I was *very* concerned), and as my panicked friend insisted she knew the way, I looked up and saw a familiar building. I instantly oriented myself, determined we were in fact going in the opposite direction we should be, and then quietly explained the situation to my friends. They finally relented and I got to go my way, still calm but secretly with fingers crossed. It turns out that I was right, and we by a few minutes made it to the bus. As I sat down I was still quiet though I could feel my heart bursting out of my ribs. If I panicked I never would have seen that building and who knows what would have happened.

So, I can remain calm while working under severe pressure. What I need to work on, I’ll admit though, is remaining calm without stress! It might be February and I'm sweating that I'll never figure out my tax forms in time, or fretting that I won't find anyone to take to the senior prom….as a sophomore! Maybe I just need tension in my life to feel normal. What the heck is wrong with me!?!