I'm excited to spend my first year in an actual home and not in a residential hall -- a.k.a., the dorms. I did it for two years, and while they will always hold a sentimental and warm place in my heart, I couldn't be happier moving on to the next chapter in my life.

1. No more sharing a bathroom with a bunch of girls.

Yes. No more sharing bathrooms with strangers, especially girls -- because believe it or not, girls can be quite messy. Never again will I have to deal with blobs of hair stuck to the shower walls, clogging the drains. Never again will I have to endure tampon wrappers laying everywhere and other unmentionables. And never ever again will I have to deal with ramen noodles stuck in the drains of the sinks -- or even having to worry if my favorite stall is taken.

2. Moving up to a more "home" atmosphere than "closet" atmosphere.

Bye bye closet sized bedroom, and thanks for the memories. It was nice knowing you.

3. No Resident Assistants!

It's not like I didn't like any of my RA's, it was just the fact that sometimes they were annoying. I know they were just doing their job, but I had some of the most interesting RA's in my two years of living the dorm life. There was this one RA who wouldn't leave me and my roommate alone. He would constantly bother us to get dinner with him, even though it was clear we were busy. Now, I won't have to worry about that anymore and I can do what I want!

4. No more floor meetings.

Let me take a moment to wipe this happy tear from my face. Floor meetings was the time where everyone on the floor gathered in one room, and it was sometimes awkward because you'd never see these people. "So that's what my loud neighbor looks like?" you tell yourself while glaring at them. Floor meetings were just unnecessary and usually inconvenient. Once everyone met in the lounge, there wasn't much to talk about because the information given to us from the RA's usually lasted about five minutes. And they were mandatory?

5. No loud, obnoxious thumping and other odd, suspicious noises.

OK, so maybe I'm underestimating the possibilities of loudness in my non-dorm living arrangement that is coming up. But whatever, a girl can dream. Yes, there still will be loudness, I'm sure. But once you've lived in the dorms, everything else seems way quieter in comparisons. I won't have to deal with mister, "I'm going to go bowling in my dorm room," at the exact same time each night who lived above me, or the obnoxious guy who sneezes 20 times in a row when you're trying to sleep.

6. Having a real refrigerator and places to put food.

You mean I won't have to put my cold food in a tiny mini fridge? I won't have to lodge everything into a tiny container and place it under my bed and that super tiny shelf they give you in the dorm rooms? No way.

7. Having my own washer and dryer.

One of the most painful things while living in the dorms, was having to share washers and dryers. You had to figure out when to do your laundry and not even planning ahead would work, as people would randomly snatch the last washer before you could get to it. Or I will never forget that time I accidentally flooded the washer...or all of the monumental moments of scrounging around for quarters, just so I could do my damn laundry. Never again!

8. Staying home on the holidays.

This is going to be an interesting year because I won't have to worry about those daily reminders from the RA about how I need to clean out my room for the holiday and which dates I need to disappear by. I could stay in my home, away from my hometown for Christmas, if I wanted to. I could stay for spring break if I wanted to. Not sure that I will, but we'll see.

9. Having my own room!

And of course, the joys of having my own room. How could I forget this one? I will be honest and say that I will miss having the company of another person next to me at 2 a.m. while we talking about dumb stuff or laughing at the weirdest things. However, it'll be so incredibly nice to finally have my own space again.