Most people's initial reaction to storms is to secure shelter and supplies and mostly... evacuate.

With college students, it usually means last minute road trips, flights and sleepovers. Growing up in Florida, I dealt with hurricanes practically year-round, so I figured it might finally be the time I have to go through one on my own. No parent supervision. Flights were too expensive, a road trip may leave us stuck in another state with flooded highways, and there was always the underlying worry that classes may be put back in session if the storm didn't hit like projected to - staying put seemed like the best choice.

Hurricane prep began with my friends and I going out and stocking up on food, flashlights, power banks and more. Granted, more than one trip was needed as we continued to realize we missed some essentials here and there, but we eventually got it all. Grocery stores were conveniently stocked up on water and nonperishables, and we took advantage of it.

However, Hurricane Florence doesn't seem to know what path "she" is taking either.

She's taking all of us for a spin as she seems to not know where to go. Due to her indecisiveness, I figured it wouldn't hit hard, and would eventually die out and not hit Columbia as hard as originally projected.

I had grown on the assumption that Hurricane Florence would be a similar experience to Hurricane Harvey of last year. Hurricane Harvey wreaked havoc in Texas. However, before it did so, it was headed straight for my home in Miami, Florida. As the entire city wiped out every grocery store and gas station possible, we braced ourselves for the impact expecting to be hit as hard as Hurricane Andrew did in 1992. During the last few hours leading up to its landfall in Florida, Harvey curved and left us practically unscathed with a few inches or rain and some wind. We were incredibly lucky.

Now, being a college kid, my parents (like most parents) thought that I was crazy and didn't know what I was doing and needed to immediately go home. Not only did I refuse to because I was certain the hurricane would be a breeze, but I also didn't want classes to be reinstated and be stuck in another state unable to get back on time.

Overall, I knew that I could survive the hurricane on my own — technically, I wouldn't be alone. I would be with my roommates, friends and essentially anyone else that decided to stay as well.

I don't know if it's because I'm used to the year-round hurricane season or just a hunch, but I somehow knew that the hurricane wouldn't be the end of the world like the state assumed. Yes, at one point Florence was projected to do some serious damage and it's definitely better to be over prepared than caught off guard; but for some reason, I didn't think we'd get hit hard at all.

All in all, the hurricane scare seemed like a feat I could take on by myself. Yes, I was scared at one point, but I also knew I would be perfectly fine. It was a good "adult-ing" moment.