Damian Gordon/ Staff Writer
Residents of Bayview were left disgruntled and unable to move back into their rooms until Tuesday, Sept. 19, despite receiving an email on Friday, September 15, stating they could come back.
Sunday, September 17 a second email was sent out stating that residents could not return to Bayview.
But for students like Angel Rogers, a freshman from Missouri, it was already too late.
After driving seven hours from Jacksonville and staying in a hotel the night before,
Rogers was waiting outside in line when she heard she couldn’t return to her room.
“Everyone is just standing in line with all their luggage for them to say we can’t come in” Rogers said. “ I was angry. I felt that communication could have been better,”
Residents, such as transfer student Diep Domingue, were given the option to either find alternative housing or reside in the Wolfe Ballroom until their rooms were available.
After booking a bus out of town to his American family, they drove 10 hours up to Atlanta. Domingue was at the airport, ready to fly back Sunday, he said, when he received the second email.
By that point, it was too late, he said, and had no other option but to stay in the ballrooms.
Despite Bayview being a privately-owned complex, FIU provided cots and free food to those residents who chose to stay in the ballrooms.
But Domingue tried to stay optimistic during this situation.
“I can’t [couldn’t] really do anything, I just need to adapt my mind,” he said. “Pain is temporary. It comes, it can stay for two days, but it will not stay forever.”
Another resident Leon Dean, a sophomore majoring in business management and marketing said he was anxious to get back to his dorm after being away so long.
“I’m just glad we have [had] somewhere to stay so I can go to work and go to school,” Dean said. “But you can tell most of the people would prefer to be in their room.”
Photo Courtesy of Creative Commons. Can be fount at: https://www.flickr.com/photos/komunews/16662690740
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