From the beginning of my freshman year at the College of Charleston until the end of my sophomore year, I lived in a dorm called Glenn McConnell Residence Hall.
It's a large brick building on Wentworth Street. It's very outdated and it seems like everything is falling apart once you're inside. There are old checkered floors from the nineties and there are weird colorful patterns in the hallways.
The suites have chipped pain and what seems like cardboard walls.
The washers and dryers are constantly broken and the fire alarms go off because of shower steam.
For two years it was like living in a nice cardboard box.
But from living in Glenn McConnell Residence Hall, also just called "McConnell", I gained a lot more than living under the mold infested ceilings.
From living in room 201, I gained some of my best friends. The friends your parents tell you about. "Friends you meet in college are going to be your lifelong friends." After meeting Kate, Beth, Tara, and Hannah, it was hard not to believe that.
Spring semester is when my roommate Molly finally arrived. She was someone I didn't know I needed in my life, but I'm more than thankful I have her now.
Molly followed with my from year one of living in McConnell to year two to living in McConnell. We were roommates for both years.
McConnell is where I had my Thanksgiving/Friendsgiving dinners, my Christmases, and a little bit of Hanukkah for Zach.
After living in 201 and moving into room 204, that's where I became better friends with my suitemate Lizzy. Thank you for doing so many dishes, Liz.
That smelly dorm is where I met my best guy friends, Eli, Seth, James, Austin, Andrew, and Mike.
There aren't a lot of nice things I can say about Glenn McConnell Residence hall, but living there was a major bonding experience for me.
I've seen too many episodes of "The Office," I've gotten too many 2 a.m. phone calls to go "mom," my friends, I've physically cleaned up after my suite mates and hall mates too many times to even begin to count, but I wouldn't change any of it for the world.
I gained more than just friends from living in McConnell, I gained a family.
I have too many memories to count and if I had to do it all over again I would. I would probably do my best to avoid breaking Molly's finger again though.
I will never ever miss living in McConnell but I'll miss out on my friends and those memories that I made gets to me.
Moving out was harder for me this year than last because I wasn't just saying "see you later" to four roommates, I was saying it to my suitemates and my family across the hall.
I'm excited to see what's in store for me for the next two years, but nothing will compare to my homies of Glenn McConnell Residence Hall.
