Living on your own for the first time opens your eyes to so many new problems you never thought you would encounter.
Here are some life lessons I've acquired during my first two months living in a dorm room.
1. Running out of food is basically the end of the world
Your stockpile of snacks will diminish quickly in college. Although, I still can’t decide if the scariest part of that is that now I have to venture to the dining hall or the fact that I ate all of that junk food in less than two months.
2. Doing laundry is the worst way to end the weekend
Sundays are hectic down in the basement. People are angry about classes the next day and everyone wants to take out their frustration by passive-aggressively waiting for you to get your clothes out of the washer.
3. The $50,000 that I pay for tuition definitely doesn’t go toward soundproof walls.
My next door neighbors always seem to be laugh-screaming about something. And it’s great that they’re having such a blast, but not when I’m trying to go to sleep on a Wednesday at 11 PM.
4. Lights are bright at night
You might be thinking, yeah duh. But just wait until you’re trying to descend into dreamland but your roommate has a better plan of sitting at her desk all night finishing an essay. Who knew one little LED desk light would be such a nuisance?
5. The garbage bin will seem to magically fill up on its own.
Wait, didn’t I just empty that trashcan yesterday, you may think. And yes, yes you did. The tiny garbage bin your dorm provides you can only contain so many takeout containers. Eventually, you will have to make that walk of shame to the trash room with those 3 Dominoes boxes.
6. Also, back to the tuition, it absolutely does not pay for the shower
To by fully honest, the real reason I went home for midterm break was to take an actual hot shower. If you’re like me and must have the water so hot it practically burns your flesh off, you’re in for a rude awakening at college. Waiting for the water to get warm is a game you will never win. And the more you wait, the worse the water pressure gets. A better shower is attainable at a Motel 6.
7. Flushing the toilet after midnight is the eighth deadly sin
For some ungodly reason, Marquette’s toilets are insanely loud. In my quad, our bathroom follows the policy of if the sun is down and all our lights are off, the toilet is not flushed. Trust me, waking up to mystery pee in the toilet is a thousand times better than being woken up by an actual toilet from Hell.
8. Climbing into a lofted bed doesn’t seem like it would be a problem, but oh it is.
I’m pretty sure I have dislocated my knee at least once trying to climb into my bed. The ladder is flat and awkward at the end of the bed, leaving you desperately grabbing for your blanket to pull yourself to safety. It does look kinda funny though when your roommate jumps out of her bed like a skydiver.
9. Seeing a dog outside is a privilege and you must take advantage of it!
Dorms only allow fish, so basically no cuddle-able pets allowed. Therefore, anytime someone is walking their dog on campus, it is necessary to spend as much time with it as you possibly can. Like Michael Scott once said, “You miss 100% of the shots you don’t take. -Wayne Gretzky.” Not stopping to pet a dog can literally ruin your day in college.
10. By October, dining hall food will actually seem like slop.
There are only so many Saturdays you can eat chicken nuggets and macaroni and cheese before it gets old. All of the dining halls begin recycling their meals at this point in the semester, sadly, leaving you to wallow in a food rut. The lack of restaurants on campus also adds on to the seasonal food blues.
11. Even though loneliness is inevitable, everyone living around you feels the same way.
Living on your own for the first time is rough, but luckily almost everyone on campus is going through the same struggle. Although times may be frustrating, it’s important to remember that we are all in the same boat. We can all get through it, together.
