What your freshman dorm at Emory says about you

Where you live  determines your friends, your proximity to classes and food, and perhaps your entire first year experience.

Raoul Hall

If you’re a proud Raoul resident, you know that you got a head start in your life at Emory- as appropriately foreshadowed with the SongFest victory.

I personally don’t know anyone, who doesn’t wish they lived in Raoul and honestly, what’s not to like? Raoul dominates the Freshman Quad and is conveniently positioned to be close to the DUC, the WoodPEC, the other dorms and Eagle Row, allowing its residents to be in the center of all events. If you live in Raoul, you most likely recognise this privelege and exhibit more res hall pride than others.

You tend to be very close with your floormates and every hall meeting is “family time”.  You’re also probably pre-business or at least 98% percent of your friends are. You don’t think it’s odd that people call the water fountains “hydration station”- you might even refer to them like that yourself, #noshame. Also, you’re probably still wondering who placed those random pumpkins around during Halloween, and would like to ask them a few questions about that quite agressive note. Ah, the mysteries of Raoul lyfe.

Long-Street Means

First off, anyone who’s seen Harry Potter will agree that LSM is basically Hogwarts – have you not seen those high ceilings, the woodwork and the fireplace? Others go for a different metaphor, comparing their res hall to a hotel or a ghost town.

If you live in LSM, odds are that you only hang out with your roommate/ suitemates and perhaps your friends on your hall,  but you feel like there’s no community – the rest are strangers. You can’t count the times that you’ve met another freshman and were shocked upon finding out that they lived in LSM, too (bonus points if they actually lived on your floor!).

Likewise, you’re used to seeing new faces when you walk around but hey, LSM is supposed to emphasize diversity after all. At the end of the day, you’re still glad that you live in LSM – as long as the toilet waters don’t change colours.

Turmilton

If all of the freshman dorms were a family, Turman and Hamilton would be the twin brothers. While Raoul and LSM are like the two overachiever older siblings who get all of the attention, Turmilton residents know that they are on the lucky side as well.

As a Turmilton resident, you enjoy being close to basically everything but especially the DUC. It’s very likely that you’re an athlete in one of Emory’s sports teams ( even more probable that it’s Track & Field), and it really helps that WoodPEC is a minute’s walk away.

Out of all fresh dorms, you take your hall’s theme the most seriously and are very keen on recycling. Go green!

Alabama

If the halls of the Freshman Quad are a nuclear family, Alabama is their independent and hipster first cousin. Although the building itself is pretty small, the wide rooms inside are a pleasant surprise. The only thing it lacks is probably a stove in their kitchen, but that appears to be a nonissue since the DUC is basically 5 steps away. ( Who needs to bake brownies when you can take them with your endless meal swipes? Nobody.)

A Bama resident can be found on the hammocks or the tables right outside of his/her dorm, studying and watching life go on in Asbury Circle. They will occasionally complain about the clock tower going off every 5 minutes, or throw shade at the shortcomings of their laundry room (only two fully functioning washers and dryers sounds kinda tough tbh), but looking across to the less fortunate hall will cheer them up – which brings us to…

Dobbs

Not to be offensive or anything, but if LSM is Hogwarts, then Dobbs is the cupboard under the stairs.

Despite the fact that it’s such an eye candy from the outside, the room sizes are simply not fair. If you’re a Dobbs resident, you are entitled to rant endlessly about being forced to live in a storage depot. However, the claustrophobic feeling that forces people out of their rooms and the small size of the dorm in general lays the groundwork for a very tightknit community.

A typical Dobbs resident knows just about everyone else in their entire dorm, and always has somebody to hang out with. They also derive comfort from the fact that they’re positioned in the middle of the campus as opposed to a certain less fortunate res hall.

Complex

Enter the aforementioned less fortunate res hall. Just kidding (or am I?). Us Complex residents will always have mixed feelings about our hall, I guess. The fact that Complex is located so far away from everyone else certainly does give out the stepchild vibe.

Your typical Complex resident (I myself might fit into that description) secretly enjoys complaining about the bad location , the struggle of finding hot water in the showers, the lameness of having single-sex floors and pretty much everything else. I don’t know if we’re happy, but we certainly should be healthy since we have to regularly sprint to class (especially if it’s in *gasp* the Bio Building or something) and going to the Freshman Quad or Eagle Row feels like a hiking trip.

The first few months of college were spent in envy of  other dorms, but by now we’re used to it all. Only living in Complex could make so many pre-med people hang out at the Bschool (it’s very pretty ok? – and also Highland Bakery, guys) and no other dorm has lounges as lit as ours. Living right next to libs has its perks and so does having our own mini-gym ( the two people who actually use it – back me up here). All in all, even though we kept getting lost trying to go from Smith to Thomas for a couple of months, Complex is home by now.