Recently, one of Florida State University's oldest buildings came crumbling down as Smith Hall was demolished. Smith no longer qualifies as the most questionable living situation available for FSU Freshmen and now if you say you've lived in the the dorm, you''ll have to age yourself.
Watching my freshman dorm getting demolished was an eye opening experience. Along with the mold and asbestos that came down, along with it came the memories and revelations of living in Smith. I first owe a thank you to the other person who endured living in a shoe box with me. Did we ever actually unpack... rather, could we actually fully unpack all of our stuff in that room? After you've flipped the coin for the high or low bed and coordinated times for the community shower, every previous Smith inhabitant knows you either loved your roommate or it felt like constant claustrophobia. I was blessed with a great roomie, who always shared her take-out chips and salsa from the on-campus Chili's.
Telling someone you lived in Smith was like telling someone you had an illness or your dog just died. They had the initial shock and horror expressed on their face, they consoled you, and it ultimately ended in a "that sucks, man." At the beginning, you almost felt like you had to defend Smith, like that one friend you had in middle school who really did suck but she was nice to you. You'd ramble about how close it was to the gym and track, but let's be real that didn't stop any of us from the Freshman 15. Not even your mile commute to ENC 1101 to the Williams building was going to stop that from coming.
Then when people were even more horrified to hear you had to share a bathroom with everyone in your hall. Realistically, there was always someone cleaning it in the morning. During the week you were in a nice, clean shower, but lord have mercy on the weekend conditions of that shower. That empathetic feeling set in when you saw cleaning staff walk in on a Monday morning.
The walls may have sweat and not even the strongest Command strip could hang on tight, or you might have found mold in your closet (true story), or you might have even fallen out of your high bed, but you've lived to tell the tale. I may have had a year-long sinus infection but if anything, Smith taught me character and that if I really had to, I could probably in one of the those little houses.
No excitement and anticipation of your freshman year of college could prepare you for the excitement of moving out of Smith. As you packed up you probably pondered about how you could even fit all your crap in the room in the first place. You threw those shower shoes into an incinerator because those things were disgusting, and you walked out like you'd just paid your debt to society,
Now as you walk around FSU, you hear kids saying they live in Azalea Hall and call Degraff the "bad dorm." Oh, honey, if you only knew. So cheers to you Smith Hall, it wasn't the best of times and it was kind of the worst of times.
