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"ResLife"

October 24, 2006

A "pod" in McKean Hall

There’s so much I could say about living on campus…where do I start? My amazing roommate Katelin? The loud music that plays around us until all hours of the night? The lingering smell of Ramen noodles throughout McKean?

I’ve affectionately named our room “the cell”, though it’s an overstatement, as the room is actually quite nice. During my travels I lived in a room the same size as my dorm, but with 12 girls, so sharing the space with one other person is a breeze. And Katelin is definitely a saint. She’s a night owl and I’m a morning person, so we balance each other out nicely.

I’m on this new simplicity kick, so when I moved in, I literally came with two Rubbermaid containers (one for clothes, one for food) and my bedding. It’s amazing how that stuff has multiplied over the past month or so. For example, even though there is always perfectly good food available on campus, I feel the need to stock up on junk (mainly chocolate) from Wal-Mart, just so it’s available whenever I need it. I’ve acquired some weird knick-knacks: a Rollins Frisbee, a giant world map to hang over my bed (wow, I sound like such a dork), and one of those quaint little shower totes that always breaks.

Kate's dorm room

Our room is stationed right outside of a pod. For those of you who don’t know, a pod is like a little living room. We have couches and a table. Well, we had couches. Now we just have one couch. You see, our other couch was tragically stolen (through the window!) one night. It was pretty traumatic for all of us living around the pod. Since then we’ve formed a neighborhood watch committee, to make sure none of our other furniture disappears. Lauren, who lives down the hall, is the decorating guru and has found adorable chair covers for the chairs, a table cloth, and supplied us with all the fashion magazines we could want. Suffice it to say, the pod is a popular hangout where very little work ever gets done. Sometimes some of the guys come and play guitar in the pod, which is totally distracting but so much fun! I recently got a guitar and it has definitely been wreaking havoc on my study hours.

Thursdays are the crazy nights in McKean. Apparently Thursday is the new Friday, as most everyone around me spends the evening getting all dolled up to go downtown. It’s always a flurry of music, hairspray, clothes-swapping, and cab-calling. Thursday is laundry night for me, unless I drive home to go to my little sister’s volleyball games. I’m not hugely into the party scene, mainly because I have this new old-person attitude and anything requiring lots of energy (excepting rock climbing and the beach) totally turns me off. I don’t know when I got so boring, but somehow it happened. So I generally do my laundry with Rachel, as the laundry machines are sure to be available then!

Hanging out and socializing with friends

I need to say something about the beds. People always hear that the beds in the dorms are terrible, but I need to dispel that rumor. They are amazing. I’m obsessed with my bed. I sleep better on it than I have slept on any bed, ever. Combined with the fact that you can adjust your own room temperature (we keep our room at a constant and frosty 50), it’s really hard to get out of bed in the mornings.

Residential life (commonly referred to as ResLife) has been a lot of fun so far. It feels good to be on campus, and always in the midst of everything, and it has really helped me connect with people. I have an advantage because my family lives less than an hour away, so if I’m really going nuts needing some time by myself, I can run home and take a break. But some of my friends are living at home, and I know they have felt left out of a lot of what goes on in college. Just my little tip of the day: if you’re going to do the college thing, really try and live on campus!

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