In the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy, the so-called "Frankenstorm" that hit the East Coast last Monday, Brandeis students from the hardest-hit areas have been doing their best to stay in contact with relatives and cope with the destruction in their hometowns.

According to Senior Vice President for Students and Enrollment Andrew Flagel, 969 Brandeis undergraduates, or about 27 percent of the undergraduate student population, are from New York and New Jersey, the heavily populated region where Sandy first made landfall.

Kristin Li '15 is from Staten Island, a borough of New York City that is being called the "epicenter" of Sandy's destruction by local and national news outlets.

Her family's house is on high ground, so it wasn't hit as hard as other areas on the island, and she was able to get in touch with her parents fairly quickly after the storm passed, said Li in an interview with the Justice. However, news of the storm has made an impact on her.

"Battery Tunnel and the Staten Island ferry station, that was a place that I went every day when I went to high school," said Li. "When I saw the pictures ... I was heartbroken."

"It was actually pretty scary for a lot of people," agreed Jeremy Pachter '14, but "I escaped it, I'm here."

Charlotte Franco '15 said that while her house in Little Silver, N.J. escaped the worst of the damage, her high school, just a short car ride away, was flooded.

"That place means a lot to me, and it means a lot to alumni, so we would always go back, and I can't do that [now], which is sort of a weird concept," said Franco. "Just knowing literally two towns away is completely, like, wiped out. ... It's just hard to think about going back," she continued.

Franco said that several of her friends from home live in coastal areas that were almost completely wiped out by Sandy.
The total number of homes without power due to the hurricane was 1.4 million on Monday, according to reports from CBS. Just under 800,000 of those, down from a high of 2.7 million, were in New Jersey.

The news of Sandy also comes at the height of midterm season for many Brandeis students. While their hometowns remain on their minds, they try their best to focus on studying.

"Sometimes when I hear people say, 'Oh, I wish I was in New York, they don't have school for a week,' that just kind of pisses me off," said Li. "Honestly, I wish I was there to help. I would volunteer ... but I can't. I have school right now, you know?" she explained.

Franco's parents, who, like most people in New Jersey, were still without power as recently as Sunday and didn't expect to regain it for a few more days, have encouraged her to keep her mind on school. "They keep telling me I just have to focus on my work here, but it's hard to hear" alongside news of the destruction, she said.

Ricky Rosen '14, who also hails from Long Island, said he had just spoken to his parents, who only had their power turned back on on Sunday after being without it for almost a week.

"Students at Brandeis are always complaining about the food at Sherman, or that they got a 'B' in their course, but when something like this hits, you know, you realize how fortunate you really are," he said.

For many, the disconnect with the town they left at the end of summer and the one they will return to for Thanksgiving is hard to fathom. "Just knowing that, when I went to school ... in August, everything was fine, and then going back and it being completely different, and not seeing the middle part, is weird," said Franco.

"I used to go fishing at this dock, and I saw all these pictures of it that people took," said Pachter. "Everything's underwater, like where I stood, and then like even ... the parking lot," in photos that were taken at low tide, he said. "Usually ... we laugh at [hurricanes], like 'alright, no school,' but this was pretty serious."

Looking ahead, the situation could get even worse, as the very same regions that were pummeled by Hurricane Sandy last week are bracing for a nor'easter to make its way there on Wednesday evening.

However, amid news of the chaos pouring in, Li remained optimistic that her hometown and the rest of the region are on the road to recovery. "I think everything is getting back on track," she said. "Hopefully by the time I get back, everything will be fine. If not, I'll do whatever I can to help."