Now as a junior in college (I'm still and probably always will be in denial about my age), I decided to live off-campus in an apartment with two off my friends I dormed with last year.
Great, right?
While the thought of having our first apartment excited my roommates and I to no end, the realities of it for the past two weeks haven't been the most ideal.
1. Having to cook for myself
One of the biggest things I probably miss about living on campus is the easy accessibility to the dining halls. Despite the plethora of incidents — the many, many atrocities — in the dining hall (i.e. raw chicken in South grab and go, bugs in the salad at Whitney), being able to freely walk into one of the eight dining halls here at UConn and just swipe myself even for just a little snack is something that I definitely took for granted.
Now, my roommates and I actually have to go grocery shopping and make food for ourselves so we don't end up starving. Yay adulting!
2. Broken air-conditioning and a lot of other maintenance issues
I don't know what it is but the people who lived in the apartment before my roommates and I were, to say it kindly, an irresponsible mess. And also, the apartment building we're in has just been having issues after issues after issues.
Before officially moving in, one of my roommates and I decided to go to the apartment to do a little bit of clean up. And, boy, were we in for a treat.
There were bugs everywhere, the carpet felt dirty, and there was mold in the dishwasher and the fridge.
Then our AC broke. It got fixed for a day but now, it's broken again and there's apparently an issue with the whole unit itself and the weather just happened to hit the first week of school with a heat wave.
And then, on top of things, our dishwasher broke causing a leak in the pipes under the carpet in the kitchen. There's still a big wet stain that's been slowly drying up because of the heat (it's a little gross, I know).
3. Having a car on campus (but also having to pay an arm and leg for a parking pass in a lot that's 20 minutes away from campus)
Probably one of my favorite things, and probably one of the best things, about living in an apartment is having my car up on campus. It was honestly such a smart decision to make considering UConn messed up by changing the bus routes this year, as in, if you thought the UConn transportation service was unreliable back then, it is frustratingly unreliable now.
But, on the other hand, one of the worst things about having a car was having to buy a parking pass. One, because the parking passes literally cost an arm and a leg. Two, because they're not even decent parking spots. All the commuter lots are literally 15 - 20 minutes from the middle of campus and there's never enough parking spots.
4. Being responsible for rent and other bills
The education system has never taught us anything useful for the adult life, in my opinion. While vectors and the quadratic equation are all fun and games, it would've been nice to be educated about taxes, credit and debit cards, and handling bills. It would've been nice to be 20 and not be overwhelmed and confused about handling bills but hey, what can ya do?
