We have maggots. Yes, maggots, because that’s what happens when you leave your trash on your back porch for too long. This is one of the many lessons I have now learned after moving into my off-campus apartment. Another lesson is that the idea of living off campus and actually living off campus are very, very different.
Picking out my furniture, photos, and various decorations to hang on the wall the summer before my sophomore year, I imagined quite a romanticized version of apartment living. I pictured myself as a character in "Friends," with my favorite people in a fancy apartment that is always clean, put together and of course never without food. As you can imagine, this is not quite the case, since, you know, we have maggots. Actually living in an off-campus apartment means a lot of things:
It means putting on real pants and shoes to walk to your friend’s house because they don’t live down the hall of your freshman dorm.
It means taking the trash out because you can’t make your roommates do it every week.
It means looking in the fridge, thinking “wow we have no food,” eating a chocolate bar for breakfast, and saving groceries for later.
It means cleaning up after yourself, your friends and occasionally the random friends of friends of friends that somehow wind up at your apartment.
It means walking further to class, which may not seem like a big deal, except when it's 85 degrees outside and you feel like you will never reach the top of that very steep hill. And knowing it will be even worse when it is below zero in January.
It means not always getting along with your roommates. I don’t care if they are your best friends, teammates, or complete strangers, you’re going to have your differences. But you’re all living there and need to talk it out. For instance, we know we couldn’t simply split the grocery bill when one of my roommates adds ginger paste to our grocery list (seriously, what is ginger paste? How does one use ginger paste? Why does somebody use ginger paste? So many questions).
It means bills. I don’t care whose name is on the bills and whether you or your parents are paying them. They are real, and they have to be in on time.
It means dealing with any and all problems that arise, whether it be maggots or having six firemen and an electrician in your house all before 10 a.m. on a Sunday morning because the smoke detectors were wired incorrectly (we have experienced both at my apartment). You have to be there to deal with it and make sure your landlord is kept in the loop.
Despite all of this, living off-campus is fun. It is definitely more than just cleaning and dealing with the things that go wrong.
It means having your own room and having a place where you can be alone without all of the noise that comes with a dorm.
It means independence. For the first time there are almost no rules. You have no RA and no parents. You get to decide how you act in your own home and what your home looks like and who you live with.
It means home cooked food. As amazing as it is to have a meal planned and prepared for you, the dining hall gets old and sometimes really gross. When all you want is real food that you, or that recipe that your mom made, you can make it for yourself.
It means fun. When all you want is to blast music and dance it out with your roommates after a long day, nobody can judge you. Besides that, roommates are always a source of comic relief if you need it (at least in my house they are).
Off-campus living is an adjustment, no matter what. But despite the fact that every once in a while you may receive texts form your roommate about insects and the fact that your apartment may or may not be on fire and oh you can’t do laundry, it is fun, it is interesting and it has so far been an amazing experience!
