 "Photo: Erik Castillo")
UT parent Anetta Lee surveyed her tray loaded with cooked vegetables, spaghetti, garlic pork and pepperoni pizza in the Kinsolving cafeteria Saturday.
Lee evacuated Houston with her son and a friend ahead of Hurricane Rita to stay with her daughter Chien-Yu, a biochemistry freshman who lives in Kinsolving.
To aid hurricane evacuation, Division of Housing and Food Services allowed students to host immediate family members in their dorm.
As of Friday afternoon, 148 family members were staying on campus, taking space in seven of the 11 residence halls. That number dwindled over the weekend as some families, hearing that most of the Gulf Coast had been spared, headed home.
"We really think that UT has dodged the bullet," said Doug Garrard, associate director of residence life.
Dalina Zenelaj, a psychology junior who works at the San Jacinto Residence Hall front desk, said a lot of people left Sunday. Most families are expected to check out by Monday.
Xiaosu Zhang, a native of Katy, and four family members stayed with their daughter in Jester Cen-ter. Zhang said though the five of them had been sleeping on the floor, she was pleased with the dorm.
"Jester is clean and safe," Zhang said, relaxing in the Jester East lobby with her family Friday afternoon, playing cards with another evacuated family from Katy, who were staying in Simkins Hall Dormitory.
Patrick Nguyen, a Jester East resident assistant, said the dorm's mood was relaxed all week long.
"It was slightly a bit more crowded, nothing too hectic," said Nguyen, a studio art senior. "It wasn't raining and pouring, so no one was confined to indoors; like a paid vacation."
Frank Yu, a computer programmer from southwest Houston, said he had no problems leaving work to evacuate Thursday.
"My boss understood," Yu said. "There was no problem."
Yu, along with his wife and 9-year-old son, evacuated Harris County at 9:30 a.m. for the University, where their daughter Serena, a marketing junior, lives in Jester Center.
"There were a lot of accidents," Yu said of the evacuation route. "Some were severe - very severe."
He described the 20-car gridlock at one gas station he passed, mentioning that many cars ran out of gas and some restaurants were closed, too.
"There was no gas, no food, no restrooms," Yu said. "A lot of people were going [to the bathroom] on the side of the highway."
The Yus arrived in Austin at midnight Thursday and spent the night with Serena, piling their belongings in a small corner of her dorm room. Though many dormitories supplied extra mattresses to incoming families, the Yus slept on the floor without a mattress.
After hearing Houston had been spared destruction, the Yus left early Sunday morning and arrived home in two hours.
"They're not sorry they came because they got to see me and tour the campus," said Serena Yu. "They're just happy they were prepared - better safe than sorry."
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