It is currently 5:18 in the morning on May 2nd, 2017. I'm a week away from finals. Why am I up writing an article this early? Well, it's simple. At approximately 4:32 this morning, the fire alarm went off, automatic talk box of instructions and all. It happens every dead week I've been here so far. The first time was due to someone on the 12th floor getting drunk and messing with the fire extinguisher. This time, I presume someone was cooking food to go along with their late night/early morning finals study. It was pretty frustrating to evacuate the building at that hour. On the bright side, it did give me a brilliant idea of what to put all of my frustration into. So, here are a few things that I hate about my dorm.
1. Over half the building doesn't have H/VAC control
I know, that doesn't seem like a big deal, considering that it's an old-ish building and I shouldn't be complaining about it since I was moved to a room with H/VAC controls. But it doesn't hep when the situation becomes that an entire building is controlled on the whim of a single heating unit. The building is in process of adding controlled heating to every room, so it's not a huge deal going into next semester.
2. It's quite far away from classes
I mean, it takes about 15 minutes just to get to anywhere you need on central campus. It varies by where you're going, but it's far too long if you're in a rush. It requires earlier wake-up times so you can get everything done in an orderly fashion.
3. The students here are especially idiotic
Now, there is a majority of students here are pretty calm. But the ones that aren't are insanely annoying. Like I mentioned before, there was that entire situation last semester when someone got drunk and messed with the fire extinguisher. They've also managed to break a pool table, a couple of windows, and make the elevators drop on several occasions. It's a wonder how those few manage to make it here.
4. The elevators don't work half the time
There have been several occasions where I've been forced to take the stairs up ten flights, all because the elevators aren't in functioning condition. Heck, the left side elevator on the front end of the building works maybe once a full moon. Seriously, it was a full moon last time they were working.
5. There are water outages every other week, it seems
This is mostly accredited to construction down the road. But even without all the water testing at North Hall, we still had more outages than what there should've been. That tells me one thing: the water pipes are getting old and are in dire need of fixing. I'm also currently struggling to keep my hot water working in my room, it's that bad.
6. The fire alarm
Yes, I'm calling out the system in particular. It's invasive, it freaked me out the first few times it did its monotone recording sequence. It goes something like this: *Series of fire alarm-ish sounds* "Attention. Attention. An emergency has been reported. All occupants walk to the nearest stairway exit. Do not use the elevator. Walk to the nearest stairway." That line will repeat and the entire sequence starts again. I remember when I was staying with my now ex-girlfriend it went off for the fire extinguisher incident, and she nearly had a panic attack over it.
7. The hall staff seem a bit over the top
There was recently a vandalism rule set in place. This rule says that if a floor gets a vandalism report, then the entire floor will pay for the damage costs until someone is found to have done it. The reason this rule fell flat is because it actually broke our Constitutional right to due process. They like to pull stuff like this all the time.
8. And finally, the hall staff vary on when they want to enforce certain requirements and rules
Last semester, our RA's weren't required to do much of anything. This semester, they're shoving all sorts of programs down our throats. I don't understand what changed. On top of that, the staff is trying to crack down on vandalism and throwing things out windows, both of which I had yet to see anywhere. It's quite weird policing, if you ask me.
But I can tolerate all of this. You know why? Because I'm not here to care about where I'm living
I'm here to learn and progress my future and to succeed. This housing bull crap is all temporary. Soon enough I'll be out of here and it won't have any Without housing, my campus experience would be a little less memorable. I wouldn't have been able to debate with the RHC over policy changes or know the struggle of a college student in general. It's all a part of the cycle. I've gotta learn to live with it and love it for as long as I can because soon enough, I won't have it.
