Living in a college dorm means that you are constantly surrounded by people.
This also means that you likely have the pleasure of experiencing paper-thin walls. Together, the combination ensures that you get to know the people around you pretty well. Or, at the very least, this ensures that you're definitely hearing pretty much everything that anyone in the hallway does.
At all times.
Below, 10 sounds you've probably gotten used to if you live in a dorm:
1. An alarm going off.
It might be 8:30 in the morning, and it might be 2:30 in the afternoon, but it seems as though there is always an alarm going off and someone is always just getting up for the first time.
2. Phone ringing/phone call/video call.
We get it, you have friends and like to keep in touch.
3. Phone messages.
Similar to the above noise, this one specifies a text message rather than the sound of a phone ringing. All I can say is that people seem to love putting their phone notifications on full volume.
4. Microwave.
Honestly, this is a fair one. How else are you going to heat up those great dining hall leftovers?
5. Something banging or bumping or scraping.
Another activity that people seem to love doing is redecorating their entire dorm room and moving everything around. Also, there seems to be that one, usually heavy, item that you can hear falling down all the time.
6. Coughing.
Once you get sick in college, you stay sick and just learn to accept it. Clearly, that must explain why that girl down the hallway has had a cough since day one.
7. (Bathroom) doors opening and closing.
This is also a fair one because you understand that there is always going to be someone who has to go to the bathroom. That being said, you've never met a group of people who has had to go to the bathroom this often.
8. Music playing.
With paper thin-walls comes the privilege of learning the music taste and preferences of every single person in the hall. A nice mix of throwback Taylor Swift and loud rap music can be found blasting throughout the hallway at all times.
9. The shower running.
I mean, I guess it's good that you can vouch for your neighbors' hygiene. Bonus points if you're in the hallway just as the shower stops and then you're forced to make uncomfortable eye contact with someone who clearly just wants to go and get dressed.
10. Talking.
You can't escape this one. There is always going to be a conversation that just has to take place directly outside your door. Don't even try to escape it.
Hearing all of these sounds means that you begin to learn about your neighbors on a whole new level. Never before have you been so attuned to someone's shower schedule or heard exactly how addicted someone is to microwave popcorn. The only thing that should comfort you, just as you're hearing that guy's alarm go off for the 4th time in a row, is that you're probably just as loud as everyone else!
