After surviving three weeks of my second year in college, I have come to the conclusion that there are many differences between freshman and sophomore year than people may assume. Classes are now getting more serious and have harder material, extracurricular activities are now a "must" to build up your resume, students should now be looking into research or study abroad opportunities and an array of other changes. Out of all these changes, the one change that has been most prevalent in my life for good and bad reasons is I am now living in an off-campus apartment rather than an on-campus residence hall.
Weighing the pros and cons of each living situation, even though most people wouldn't admit it, I actually do miss living in a dorm. Although there definitely were things I do not miss about dorm life, such as the fast-spreading sicknesses that would breakout through a whole residence hall and having to wear shower shoes, there are things that I do miss about dorm life that are merely impossible to relive in an apartment.
Having multiple dining halls within residence halls available all day for my convenience is one thing I took advantage of without realizing it until I started living in an apartment. I will admit the food served was nothing close to high-quality food, but it was edible and available for me when I needed it. This year, not only do I have to buy any food that I need, but I also need to spend time looking for recipes and poorly executing these recipes to the best of my ability, which is subpar. Having little experience in the kitchen has become a major disadvantage for me in the first three weeks of living in an apartment.
When you live in a residence hall, you are living with 700 other people in the same building. This means that every day is a new opportunity to run into new people and make friends. Although I love living with three of my closest friends, it was nice to be able to see a variety of people simply walking around the hallways, keep my door open for anyone to come in and chat and to walk into my friend's room and check in on how their day was going. The social scene of apartments is the complete opposite of that in dorm life. People stay in their respective units with no social interaction with their neighbors. This little to no interaction between neighbors puts even more pressure on making friends in classes and extracurriculars.
You know you're living on your own when you need to clean your own bathroom. What 19-year-old knows how to use Drano or any product made by Clorox? Definitely not this 19-year-old or any of her roommates. The residence halls do a great job of spoiling their residents by having someone clean bathrooms each day, vacuum hallways and be there in case of emergencies. In an apartment, you're on your own.
It's a big change to live in an apartment rather than a residence hall while at college. A student who follows the same path as I did goes from a life of being social 24/7 with food available at any time and having someone to clean for you to being thrown into a reality of isolation, cooking, cleaning and independence. Even though eventually everyone needs to live in the reality of an apartment or house, college, especially sophomore year, is the last time to live more like a kid. It's the time to focus on school, social life and extracurricular activities rather than figuring out what you're going to cook for dinner tomorrow night and when you will be able to go to Target to pick up dishwasher cleaner.
