Life in the Dorms

It is coming near the end of the semester, and that means that it is time to more out of the dorms. I think that moving everything out is almost harder then moving everything in. I thought it would have been easier trying to get everything together and ready to move out of the dorms then packing up and moving to them, but apparently I was wrong. I thought that since I would have everything in my little tiny dorm room, all I would have to do is pack up and go. But as I found out I actually gathered a lot of things through the course of being there. I also didn’t realize how hard it would be to try to clean up my room that my roommate and I have been living in. We gathered a lot of clutter and probably don’t vacuum and dust as much as we should. It is also hard to clean things up when we have so many things in the room such as the futon, microwave, fridge, etc. Our CA told us that the room needs to be spotless with no exceptions. Although packing everything up and trying to get everything out of our room is way more difficult than I thought it would be I had a very enjoyable time. It’s hard to believe that a year has already gone by, and I am already a fourth of the way done with my college career. Although I really enjoyed my time in the dorms and meeting new friends I decided that I will not be living in the dorms next year. I decided that I would rather live in an apartment where I could have my own bedroom and space. I think that the dorms were an awesome experience for me and I would do it again, but I am also really excited to be living in an apartment next year so I can go through a completely different experience!

Lately the dorms have been treating me great! I love waking up twenty minutes before I have to go to class and just walk a few minutes to get to my classroom. It’s really nice compared to driving twenty minutes or more (depending on traffic) just to get to school. It’s also really nice because I have made many new friends throughout this year. The professors are very close so if I need help with some homework during the day, I can just walk to them without wasting any gas trying to get there. It’s also nice in weeks that we get snow, like this past week. I don’t have to worry about going in the ditch or getting stuck, since I just have to walk (although I still have to worry about slipping on the ice!) I would definitely recommend living in the dorms to anyone that is debating over the subject. They do cost a lot of money but in the long run it is worth it!

Once my roommate arrived I realized that everything was going to be ok. She was really nice and energetic. She let me know that she didn’t mind if I used her things or if I wanted to move things around in the room. Her dad was with her when she got there and he was also very kind. It was still a little weird because I had to try to get to know this person because I would be living with her for the rest of the year. The first day we spent a lot of time together talking and getting to know each other. We talked about many things including where we were from, our families, interests, high school and many other things. The first week was kind of rough and awkward. It was really hard for me because it takes me a while to get used to new things. I’m always open for change, but it takes me a while to conform to it. We had a class together so that also made it easier to get to know each other because we could discuss our homework and help each other out. This was helpful for me because we could get to know each other on a different level then just the basics. After the first week things got way better. When we were in our room together it wasn’t quite as awkward and we could talk about just about anything. We became really comfortable with each other. We weren’t only friends because we had to live in the same room, but we truly created a friendship. We would hang out with people together outside of our dorm. This was really nice because for me it didn’t feel like it was a “forced” friendship because we were living together, but we created a true friendship that could last a lifetime.

Upon my actual arrival to the dorms, I had to move all of my things into my actual room. As I mentioned before it was difficult to try to get everything in there because of all the people that were in the halls and trying to move their stuff in also. It took me a few trips to get everything in. When I initially got to my room, my new roommate wasn’t there. I had talked to her previously when we were trying to figure out what to bring and what each of us had, but we never discussed when we would be getting there. But, when I walked into the room there was a sign that said “Call me when you get here,” and I could tell that it wouldn’t be so bad. So once I got all my stuff in and organized a little bit, I called my new roommate. When I called her I was a little nervous because I wasn’t really sure what to expect. But when she answered she was really nice and sounded very energetic. She told me that she would be to the dorms shortly. Then I became really nervous, because the only time I talked to her before that was on facebook, and I didn’t have any idea what her personality was like. So I sat in the room unpacking my stuff, wondering what she was going to be like. The thoughts that kept going through my mind were, is she going to be nice, mean, are we going to get along, and many other things. This was already a completely new experience for me because I have never been put in a situation where I would have to try to get to know a complete stranger, and also try to live with them. The nervousness kept growing up until the moment that she finally arrived.

I decided that during my first year of college I would live in the dorms so I could get the “Full college experience” as some would say. When I decided that I would live in the dorms I never really thought about how much work it would be to get ready to move. It started out with weeks of cleaning my room and trying to get rid of the useless things that I don't use anymore. This was a long process because over the eighteen years I have lived in my room, I have gathered many useless things. After I took care of that mess, I needed to pack up all my boxes. This was another process that I really didn’t think would take as much time as it did. Between the fact of trying to get all my clothes washed so I could go to college with all clean clothes, and deciding what little things I needed to bring it took a good two weeks. I’m pretty sure a lot of people think it would be an easy process to move into a dorm, especially me because I don’t live to far from St. Cloud, but I was WRONG. But nonetheless, I got all of my things packed and ready to go, and then it was time to move it all into the dorms. This was also a long and horrible process because there were so many people everywhere trying to do the same thing, and the hallways aren’t quite big enough to fit that many people. But in the end I got all my stuff to my dorm and got settled in. Although it was a long process, it was worth it in the long run.