Of Smoke Detectors

Well last night was the first night in the building I will be spending the next seven weeks in. My suite mates seem like a nice group and I am enthused by the location. All things considered, it looks like it is going to be a wonderful summer. When I meet the people that I will be interning for, I will comment on them as well. However, I am relearning a few things about being in a city that I had forgotten. While I have lived in both Copenhagen and Kunming, they are slightly different from American cities in that there are times when those cities seemed still. American cities, at least certain parts of them, never truly sleep.

Another thing I am having to relearn is the joy of smoke detectors. Last night, the smoke detector in the suite went off three times. The shrill noise woke me up each of the three times. Almost as bad as the shrill noise itself was the ringing in my ears afterwards. Needless to say, I did not have the most restful night. I understand the necessity of smoke detectors and other such devices, and I am grateful that the one for this building works. That all said, I think that anyone who has had multiple 'false alarms' during the night will be sympathetic when I say I wish that this will not become a nightly occurrence. Having a working smoke detector is a wonderful/important thing, having an overly sensitive one such as I do (as to the best of my knowledge none of my suite mates were smoking or doing anything that would cause a smoke detector to go off)... well that can certainly color your first impressions of a place.

Fortunately, my internship does not begin until Tuesday, so I have an opportunity to catch up on my sleep. I know that I am lucky to have such minor problems and that the smoke alarm was a false one all three times. That being said, if the smoke detector goes off again tonight, I will take the appropriate steps. According to one of the RAs (resident assistants) in the building that I spoke with last night (the second time the smoke detector went off) the activation of smoke detectors in this building has not been an infrequent happening. Even semi-regular false alarms would certainly color my summer experience. Now, I can only wait and see. In the meantime however, I think I am going to go eat breakfast.

Until Again!