If you’ll be staying in NYU’s Rubin residence hall during your freshman year, you’re about to move into what is truly the Hottest Dorm in Town. Residents bond over sweaty Septembers due to the lack of air conditioning, while enjoying a community-oriented building on campus. Living in Rubin is both an adventure and a challenge, but undoubtedly makes for a memorable first year at NYU. As a former resident of Rubin, here are some tips to help you make the most of your year:
Debunk your beds.
If you’re living in a triple, two beds in your room will probably be bunked when you move in. You can lift the top bunk up and off of the bottom bunk and place it somewhere else in the room. Just try not to have your bed right next to the room’s heater. It will take some Tetris skills to organize your bed, desk, and dresser placements, but it’ll be worth it when you don’t have to climb on top of your roommate’s bed in order to get to sleep.
Get a fan.
Rubin’s lack of air conditioning makes it very, very hot. If you or your roommate can bring a big fan, it’ll take some of the heat off, but at the very least you should have a little desk fan. For the first month or so of my time in Rubin, I slept on top of my blankets with a tiny fan blowing on my face so I could feel cool enough to sleep. This works, but it also makes your face drier than California right now, so be sure to have plenty of lip balm and face lotion on hand at all times.
Take advantage of Rubin’s facilities.
The second floor lounge has air conditioning and plenty of couch space, making it a go-to sleeping space for those who can’t take the heat in their rooms. The lounge also has a 24-hour study zone for when you have an essay to write but it’s too late to walk to Bobst, a black box theater for when your roommate needs to sleep but you want to watch Tangled on your laptop, and a dance room that doubles as a great space to do a core workout when it gets too cold to walk to the Palladium gym.
Be aware of the thin walls.
Almost anything that happens in your room can be heard or smelled from the hallway and the other rooms on your floor. You know what I'm talking about, you crazy kids.
Be kind to the faculty and staff.
In addition to being polite and saying hello, respect their positions: don’t sass your RA or the security guard, pick up your trash in the lounge, and be patient when waiting for a work request to be handled. Show gratitude where needed as well. The Rubin faculty and staff are working hard to make sure you have the best first year in a residence hall you can, so show them gratitude where needed as well (thank-you cards never go out of style!).
Enjoy it!
Who knows the next time you'll get to live on 5th Ave? Talk to your fellow Rubinites, befriend your RA and remember to take time to soak in just how cool it is that you get to live in Rubin, even when it's really, really hot.
