Grand Canyon University's campus has become a small town within its safe, closed campus, known as Lope Country. Within the past several years of expansion, the university has grown to welcome 10 brand new dorms and apartments being built in only a span of 4 years. There is a reason why we are often referred to as Grand Construction University. However, that in itself has its benefits because campus life has been synonymous with living in a Hogwarts house! That's right when it comes to living on campus at GCU, your apartment is basically the equivalent of living in any of the four houses in Hogwarts. However, with roughly 15 dorms and apartments on campus, it's hard to have 15 Hogwarts houses -- so I decided to divide areas of these dorms and grouped them together in 4 houses: Gryffindor, Slytherin, Ravenclaw, and Hufflepuff. Harry Potter fans know the drill!
1. The Grove: Hufflepuff
The Grove is known as the freshman area on campus where most of the freshman attending GCU live amongst their own little town of other first year students. Like Hufflepuffs, people that live in the Grove would be curious about their surroundings. Freshmen wander off all over campus to see what is new. Not only that, but people from the Grove would do anything to try and follow the rules -- only if they don't get caught using the emergency exit door.
The Apartments: Slytherin
Now now, this doesn't mean that everyone living in the apartments are evil --except the ones that causes fire alarms. Those that live in the apartments are resourceful. For instance, we utilize the kitchen for good and design the living room as Pinterest-worthy as possible. Not to mention, living in an apartment myself, it's training wheels for being a real life adult once people get their own living spaces.
Chap City (Chaparral, Sedona, Saguaro, Canyon): Gryffindor
Chap City was once the go-to place painted as the newest little town on campus before the Grove existed. This living area was a city within itself with a Lopes Mart, a fitness center, and a pool. Often the people that live in Chap City can be the bravest when it comes to using the pool, especially in the middle of January. Otherwise, Chap City seems to be one of the more low-key dorms on campus.
Lopes Way (Prescott and Camelback): Ravenclaw
Last but not least, the Lopes Way area, which consists of Prescott and Camelback Hall and North Rim, is like Ravenclaw's biggest characteristic of intelligence. Honestly, living near all the food places is quite brilliant, but of course, the convenience of being near most class buildings is brilliant as well. The Lopes Way area is often creative as it becomes one of the biggest social hubs on campus next to the student union --almost the entire school makes its way down that little street.
Lope Land has granted many students opportunities to get to know the communities on campus with events like community gatherings. As usual, it isn't the dorms and apartment themselves that created the campus life, but rather the students that choose to live their genuine college experience. Now that makes me wonder-- are commuters muggles? (BUT I LOVE THEM AS MUCH AS I LOVE ON-CAMPUS STUDENTS)
