Kailee and I were assigned to be roommates. We would be living in a two bedroom apartment with two of our teammates. There would be two girls to each bedroom so naturally Kailee and I decided to share a room. I honestly believe that it was a blessing to have Kailee as a roommate my first semester of college. She was my friend before we shared a room and was aware of my sleeping disorders. Although I don't think Kailee was fully prepared for the craziness, she took it all in stride. There were many nights were I would wake up yelling and Kailee would calm me down. Instead of resenting me for it, (I think) Kailee was always positive and understanding. She even dealt with my weird habit of sleeping half naked. (I was going through a topless phase. Sorry Kailee) Of course I could always hold over her head that she snored rather loudly and she was lucky that I could sleep through the noise.
That first semester I think I experienced some kind of "episode" almost every night. Unfortunately I was living in an environment where I was experiencing many triggers. I was in a new apartment, I was stressed about school and soccer, I didn't have a good sleep pattern, I traveled a lot for away games, etc. It was the most fun I had ever had, but it was also the most change I had ever experienced in my life. There were times when I wished I could be a normal eighteen year old girl who didn't have sleeping disorders. Hearing about what I had done in my sleep from Kailee could be really funny, but sometimes it was really embarrassing.
Of all the embarrassing episodes I had during my two years in Iowa, (and there were many) there's one that still makes me cringe to this day:
I wake from my sleep. This isn't out of the ordinary. I'm still trying to get used to my new room. It's super dark in here. I wish I could sleep with a nightlight like I did back home, but it would be rude because Kailee sleeps in here too. She's asleep on her bed right now. She's not snoring like she usually does. Something feels weird. I sit up and scan the room. That's when I see a dark face looking in the window. O MY GOSH IT'S A PEEPING TOM. There is a random man watching me sleep!
I've got to get out of here! I start screaming and scramble out of bed. I make a mad dash down the hallway and head for the front door. I'm panicking so hard right now. I can't stop screaming! I fumble with the lock and rip open the front door! Wait.... this doesn't look right. Why am I staring at my neighbors door? Oh... I'm standing in the doorway of my apartment. I have one foot placed on the cold cement and another back in my apartment. A horrible reality smacks me in the face.
I can't believe what I've just done. This is one of my worst nightmares. No wait, the peeping tom was one of my worst nightmares. Ok I've got it! It's like I've just woken up from a nightmare and realized I'm still in a nightmare. Only I can't wake up from this nightmare. I'm fully awake and have to deal with the fact that I just ran screaming like a psycho through my apartment. I slowly close the door and hope that if I'm real quiet, no one will wake up. I turn around. Crap, too late. My roommate Kelsey is staring at me with a concerned look on her face. This is awkward..... How do I explain this?
"Are you okay?" she asks.
"Yes. Bad dream," is what I try to say. I'm sure it came out sounding more like, "yuh, bea dram". (I tend to speak gibberish during my episodes)
"Oh well you really scared me," replies Kelsey.
I don't remember if I responded to her after that. I just kind of stumbled back to my bedroom and climbed back in bed. Of course I had to face my roommates in the morning and try to explain what caused me to have a "freak out". Luckily they were pretty forgiving. They did manage however to tell our whole soccer team about my episode. I don't blame them for that one. I deserved it.
So what does happen when an extreme dreamer goes to college? Imaginary Peeping Tom's happen. And it's not pretty.
