Living in the dorms can be tough. But there are some things that everyone does experience
- It is either the Sahara Desert or Antarctica in the building.
- There will be no in between so layer up! And there’s also the fun of living with people who run either super hot or super cold so it swings everything that much more out of whack
- Quiet hours never really mean silence. Most nights they don’t even mean quiet.
- Friday nights (or should I say Saturday morning) circa 4 AM or midnight? You bet someone is coming in on the phone or talking to their friend about where the bathroom is.
- HAIR. HAIR EVERYWHERE
- Is there at least one girl on your floor? Did your roommate bring back their girlfriend or were female friends in your dorm? There will be more hair than you ever thought possible on your floor when you vacuum. You never noticed this much at home, why is there this much here?
- Nothing surprises you anymore
- Especially if there's a communal bathroom in your building. Between the decorations that get stolen, who is hiding what, and general craziness nothing you see or hear will surprise you.
- The struggle of having a communal bathroom
- Anyone who had one or had a friend who had one knows this. If someone is using YOUR shower you don't know what to do with yourself. Don't forget the shower shoes and caddy!
- The dorm food and everything that comes with it
- Chances are, if your upperclassmen friends or people in clubs you are with have a name for what the food does to you, it will do it to you. It's not good at all in taste or for you and the DC runs are for real.
- Privacy? What's that?
- The walls are thin, my friend. Between sharing a room and that, you might as well tell everything you say on the phone in front of your entire floor.
- Something is always broken no matter what
- One week it might be the elevator, the next, your neighbors door, the next week the sink. Something is always breaking or broken or just fixed. Have fun figuring out when it will break though!
- There will always be someone who is oblivious to time and noise level on the floor
- At least one person on every floor in every dorm is completely oblivious to the general schedule of the dorm and is the one having a rave or operating a movie theater at 11 PM on a Tuesday night. You will hear everything and chances are, don't know them well enough to ask them to turn it down. You probably rarely see this person.
- Floor meetings/meetings with the RA(s) are the bane of your existence
- They are NEVER convenient to anything (REALLY? Thursday at 8 PM?!) and never something you want to be at. The RA’s don’t want to be there either. There's always one person who asks a million questions during the meeting and probably one person who doesn't even live there in attendance as well.
- The ‘wonder weeks’ of relationships and fighting
- The 2 or 3 weeks that happen every semester or every few months where it seems like everyone and their mother is fighting with their roommate(s). It goes as quickly as it came and no one really knows what is the central cause.
But even after all these struggles you become like a little family with the people on your floor, through it all. You lived together and made it through, even though you probably came out a little worse for wear and maybe looking a little bit like this:( pinterest.com )
You did it.