Lesson or Omen?

Would you like to know how my semester has started?

Let me tell you.

I had planned to leave my home on Sunday afternoon, so I could arrive one day before classes yet still have time to hang out with family and friends at home first. However, the weather forecast shifted from fifty degree weather to rain → snow → sleet → freezing temperatures → ice. So, on Friday night, I realized I would have to leave the next day around one to beat the storm. After rushing around to pack seemingly my entire life, I left about 1:45 pm and began the two-hour trek. Luckily, I only hit some light sprinkles on the way and made it safely.

This, however, is when it goes downhill.

I pull into the circle drive and begin to unload. I knew it would take about six trips to unload everything, so I was dreading it already. I get out of the car to open my trunk. It won’t open. I hit unlock. Nothing. I stick the key in the trunk. Nada. I give up temporarily and decide to take in the things in my backseat. I only had a few bags in there, so it only took two trips. I try my trunk again. And once more, nothing. I call my parents, asking if they jammed it when they loaded everything. I go search for someone to help me and come across three of my friends, Anni, Maxime, and Remy. Anni is trying to unlock it with the key, while I try pressing the unlock button on the door and Maxime tried pushing down on the trunk. (poor Remy just stood there freezing her skinny butt off. She’s from New Mexico, so 35 degree weather is her nemesis). No luck. Anni knew that another RA, Matt, knew a lot about cars, so we enlisted his help. He gave a valiant effort, but eventually failed.

It is now forty minutes after I arrived at my dorm.

I call my parents and then decide I’ll call AAA. So I do, but they say they won’t be able to do anything once they arrive. So I call my parents back and say I’m going to try a locksmith (AAA gave me their number). My mom, however, decides she will call AAA again because they should at least try to help me. On the phone, I learn the locksmith is right down the block from my campus, but then AAA calls me. They talk to me for about fifteen minutes (putting me on hold four different times). During this time they tell me that if they send someone out, the registered owner will have to be present. Well, my parents are on the registration and they’re hours away. Then after asking me another series of questions, they say that they cannot send anyone to help me because my car is “drive-able”, and they only assist when the problems keep people from “getting from point A to point B”.

At this point, all I’m worried about is getting my laptop out of the trunk because it’s supposed to be absolutely freezing for the next forty hours.

By this time, it has started raining.

I get in my car and drive to the locksmith about two blocks away from me. Of course, the garage is uphill, so after a few minutes, I get it up the slippery rock. Just my luck, the bottom of the car drags as I pull it onto the concrete.

The guy in the shop is really nice, so that’s a plus. I wish I knew his name though. I was otherwise occupied at this point, though.

He looks at my trunk button. He looks at my lock button. He looks at my owner’s manual. He looks at my dashboard fuse box. However, the fuse box that hosts the trunk release is *drum roll please* in the trunk. Engineering Epic Fail.

The key is not working. The door locks are not working. The trunk lock button on the dash is not working. Nothing is working.

Then, we get the first major piece of information. Yay us. The owner’s manual says that my car (a Volvo S80) has two keys: a master key and a valet key. The master key will open absolutely everything. The valet key will only open the driver’s door (so if you take your car to a valet/service shop, they can only get into the driver’s door and not ruffle around your trunk junk). Well, my key was the valet key, so I just needed my spare (which was the master key) to get in.

Well, my spare key was in my backpack. Which was in my trunk. Which was inaccessible.

And I can’t go through my backseats because the lever to release the backseats are IN THE TRUNK.

However, I did catch a break at this point. The center arm rest console in the backseat opened up about a 8×6 inch window into the trunk. But all you could see was my very big, very heavy suitcase that was blocking the window. Because I wasn’t the one to pack my trunk, I had no idea where anything was placed. Praise the Lord, though, when I felt around the suitcase and ended up clutching a zipper to my backpack. After a few minutes of finagling around for the compartment with my spare key. Viola. I got it.

Getting this key, though, resulted in my arm getting extremely red and scratched from being squeezed between the backseat and my suitcase. But this was a small price to pay.

Hallelujah! The key worked to pop the trunk! And I immediately began to pull out all of my luggage and put in the front of the car Just In Case.

But, only the key would work. The button would not unlatch the trunk. So Mr. Locksmith looks at the fuse. It’s blown. Luckily, I had one extra fuse on the storage panel.

Two hours after arriving at my dorm, I am finally able to unload my car.

So, after unloading three suitcases and two storage bins in the rain, my nightmare is over.

What a great way to begin the year, huh? I pray you all begin your year in a much better fashion.

Much love,

Jara

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