Reasons why I’m going to miss living in a dorm

Living in a dorm sounds quite horrible, initially.  You have a tiny room to share with one, maybe two, people, and the majority of these dorms only have community bathrooms (I was lucky enough to have a suite-styled dorm).  You’re constantly surrounded by people and have little alone time or privacy.  What part of this sounds appealing? Honestly, none.  But it’s an important part of anyone’s college experience and shouldn’t be missed out on.  As the year went on I cherished every night at home in my full-sized bed where I didn’t share a room and got increasingly excited to live in an apartment next year.  But now as this year comes to an end I’m realizing just how much I am going to miss living in the dorm.

Never again will I just walk out of my room to a hallway of friends

Yes, living in an apartment building means that there are going to be a good amount of people on my floor, but the attitude is not the same.  When you come into your freshman year in a dorm, you are with a group of people all going through the same new experience as you.  Plus in a dorm you really only have your bedroom.  You need to leave the room for everything else. In an apartment, you have everything there and don’t need to go beyond the front door for much.  You probably won’t bond with the people who live next door because they’re not looking for friends to go grab a bite to eat with them, they can just make food inside.

My hall is social, we are always banging on each other’s doors

The social aspect has been both a blessing and a curse.  There have been many nights where my roommate and I were woken up at 3 am because people were out in the hall screaming and laughing.  When I’m not trying to sleep, I love this about my hall.  I can open my door and just walk across to bang on my friend’s door to see what she’s up to, or walk three doors down and harass my other friend.

You will truly never make friendships like these again

That’s not saying you won’t make new friends over the course of the next few years, but they will be different.  We were all new and nervous when we met.  We’ve all grown together over the course of the year.  I may not be friends with everyone that I met the first two weeks of school, but we’ve all learned to adapt to college life together and that has made the friendships that I do have even stronger.  I have so many new friends, and even best friends, just because we lived in the same hall.  I experienced some of my first college parties with the girls surrounding me and have my favorite frat because of a guy that lives a few doors down.  These people shape you in a way that you can’t imagine.

Walking past that one spot or room that holds memories for you

Whether they’re good or bad memories, funny or sad ones, we all have that one spot in the dorm where something happened and we think about it every time we pass it.  This could be the bedroom of your first college hookup, the community bathroom where you were puking in all night, or the lounge where you’ve made some crazy memories.  This place has contributed to your freshman year enough to make you have some type of reaction to it and you have become used to having that relationship with it.

You always have someone to accompany you to get food

There have been so many times when my roommate and I have ventured outside of our room to go grab some food from the PSU and ended up rounding up at least half of our hall just because they saw us and decided to tag along.  Of course my roommates next year will surely get food with me, but it is so much different to get in the car and go to dinner, or walk down to University and eat, versus starting with a small group but ending with a large one to mob the union.

Always having people in your room, even when you don’t want them

So much procrastination has been done because people continue to knock on the door.  Maybe they come to do homework with you, but believe me, there is not much homework being done when five people are crammed into a small dorm room.  It doesn’t matter the time of the day, there always seems to be someone that wants to come hangout.  There may be times where I complain about this because I am actually trying to do something or I want to sleep, but I’ll miss having people over constantly and having easy access to my friends.

There is always someone there to help

Whether it’s homework, something broken, or needing someone to talk to, there are always people around.  My roommate and I have done our fair share of bothering our RA just because we had a silly question or needed him to actually help us out with something in our room.  If you need anything you can just knock on someone’s door and ask. If they don’t have it, just keep moving down the line.  We share vacuums, chargers, writing utensils, even freezer space!

My roommate

I was lucky enough to have an amazing roommate who has become one of my best friends.  I’m not worried about our relationship over the next few years because I know that she will forever be one of my best friends, but not living with her and continuing our college experience side-by-side in that aspect is going to be very different. She has been my go-to, the one who tells me I’m crazy, and even a mom to me.

No longer being around the people who have come to be my second family

My dorm brought me my people.  While I do have friends outside of my dorm, like my friends in my sorority, the people I live with have truly become my second family while I am away from my first one.  We have all been through so much together and each one has influenced me in a different way.  They have been there for me in my times of need and I have been there for them.  We’re in each other’s rooms all hours of the night, or we all take over the lounge for late night studying.  I see these people every single day, even if it’s just for a minute or two, so knowing that I won’t be seeing them constantly next year is both scary and heartbreaking.

In my opinion everyone should have to experience dorm life.  It is such an amazing growing experience, even if not every part of it is perfect.  My freshman year of college would have been very, very different had I not lived in my dorm and been surrounded by these amazing people.  I’m not saying that it is easy because it’s not.  You have to learn to tolerate a lot and understand that not everyone is going to want to be your friend, but that doesn’t mean it’s going to be miserable.

To my 7th Floor Fam – Thanks for making my freshman year the beautiful shit-show that it was. You guys have no idea just how much you mean to me, I love you guys!