We are in a time where many college students are in a "fight the man" mindset towards their university administration due to various financial, political or personal reasons. Then again, I'm not sure if there was ever a time when students were pleased with tuition rates. However, I would like to take the time to acknowledge a branch of "the man" that deserves it; the Housing Department.
Responsible for my first friends on this campus and placing me on the same floor as who would come to be my best friend at this university, I've got a lot of gratitude towards our Housing Department. Sure, it may have just been a stroke of luck or random placing that sealed my fate in my dorm, but I'd like to think the housing department knew what they were doing when they placed me in room 405. My freshman year roommate and I were friends prior to starting school and I'm sure there were times when she wished we hadn't been paired to room together. Times when I talked in my sleep, came home late at night, forgot my key, or snoozed my alarm one too many times. However, I am forever thankful for being placed in that stuffy square room with her and the memories we made as well as life lessons we learned from our dorm community. Thanks to our housing department and my co-ed floor, I learned that boys really never will learn to put the toilet seat down. I did also learn how to improve my putting game on their impromptu hallway golf course and that playing FIFA is a perfectly acceptable way to spend your Friday nights. If it wasn't for the housing department, I may have never made friends with the international students in my dorm and learned about their culture (or have gotten a selfie stick from Thailand as a gift). Because of the housing department, I became friends with some of the funniest and caring girls who taught me that the only way to watch the Victoria's Secret Fashion Show is with copious amounts of chips and queso. These girls were always there to eat junk food and gossip with when we were hating boys, and then go to the rec center the next day when we were hating ourselves.
The employees at the Housing office did some good work when they placed myself and some of the greatest people I know in the same living quarters, but they deserve a promotion for bringing my best friends into my life. I never thought the girl from down the hall or the boys on the first and second floors would come to mean so much to me, yet here we are 2 years later and once again living together. Although my roommates and I are very happy to be free of the dorms and have a place of our own, we will always think fondly of our freshman dorm that brought us together and the times spent hanging out in the basement or having a movie marathon in the lounge. So, to the housing department, thank you for the stone cold pack of weirdos I lived with for a year, for my first experience having neighbors, and for for my new perspective and deep appreciation of personal space. Keep up the good work.
