Moving off to college is hard enough. It makes you question your sanity as you meet new and "friendly" people, which we hope for. The struggle of being in a confined one bedroom residence hall can kill your mood, and relationships with some friends. I moved off campus to help remove myself from unhelpful situations that caused excess stress. Here are a few reasons why off campus is better for me.
1. Sharing a room or suite with someone can be excruciating
Over the years, I have had one too many bad suite mates that have made it hard to live on campus. I've had to deal with random guys, late night obnoxious noise, and many more that I would rather not get into. Having set boundaries helps in developing a good living space for your years on campus, and one main thing that will cause you to argue is cleanliness. We all believe that we are clean, but coming home to dishes all over the place and random bags of trash on the floor can lead you to having a very annoyed end to your already stressful day in class.
2. The noise of a residence hall
All I can say is I can't even count the number of times that I have wanted to yell "save me!" whenever I can't study due to the noise through those paper thin walls. Having my own apartment gives me the sanity that I need during exam time.
3. The ability to fully choose your own roommates
Sometimes housing does a good job of choosing your roommates but that seems to be rare now, and having the ability to know who you live with is helpful. Every freshman goes in believing to some extent that they are safe and will be able to learn everything about to future suite mates before you move in, but people can hide their inner crazy long enough to fool you.
4. SPACE!!!
Trapped in one room or even a suite, you can become claustrophobic as you fight for room within your new "home". Where can I put my shampoo? What about my dishes, the sink's almost full?! It becomes more of a pain just to have so many people around in one small room.
5. Housing officials
Dealing with issuing complaints towards people but only having one person ever respond can be a hassle. Having mediation over and over whenever said person doesn't care, never resolves the issue, but they act as though housing actually cares as they continue, without repercussion, to continually cause issues for those that cause tension within the residence.
6. Not having to have multiple meetings a year
Every year, we have the same meetings telling us about the rules, what we can't have in our dorm and it gets boring. They set up times and make them mandatory but we may already have a busy week or be sick. Everyone doesn't always have time to go and meet about spring break sign out protocol for example. It can just be unrealistic.
7. To prove myself wrong
I have sat in my room before worrying that once school ends I won't be able to support myself, but this is my way of testing the waters and helping myself through a rough time. I want my senior year to be about moving forward with my life and this is another step in the process.
