Dorm living part of college experience

I can remember my mom telling me before I went off to college that I needed to experience dorm life. It would be exciting and really give me a feel for what the college experience was really like, she said.

Now, as I enter my second year of living in the dorms, I am thankful that she pushed me to live on campus. It has been a great experience; one that every college student should go through. I realize that dorm life isn’t for everyone, but it’s a worthwhile experience nonetheless.

So many of my friends were so eager to move out of their dorm rooms after last year. They complained the rooms were too small, the bathrooms were disgusting, and on and on. They wonder how I can still stand to live in such cramped quarters and why I would ever want to go through another year of living in the dorms.

I say to them, “What’s not to like?”

Take Brody Complex, where I live, as an example. The “Brojects” as it is fondly known, has some of the older dorms on campus. People complain that Brody is practically off campus and away from everything. However, it does have some advantages.

When it comes time for a game, I’m only a short distance away from Spartan Stadium, the Breslin Center and Munn Ice Arena, which is convenient because I don’t have to leave two hours before a game to find seats. In general, when you live on campus, depending on where you live, most things are within reasonable walking distance. This beats having to travel to campus from the outside.

I originally chose Brody because a friend told me they had the biggest rooms. After seeing some of other dorm rooms on campus, I’m grateful for where I live. I can’t really understand how some students are able to cram all their stuff into the tiny recesses of those other dorms. The rooms in Brody seem like mansions compared to the others.

Now of course it isn’t always a pleasant experience living in the dorms. It can be a real pain moving stuff in if you don’t live on the first floor and your dorm has no elevators. There are the pointless floor meetings, people who insist on blasting their stereos at 3 a.m. and the classic drunk guy who decides to do something outrageous (like pierce his own ear with people egging him on). I’ll be the first to admit that I’ve lost many a night’s sleep because of loud people coming in from late-night adventures.

I’ve heard a lot of people say they were turned off of dorm life because of community bathrooms. After all, who wants to share a bathroom with 30 other people? Well, guess what? I love it. The bathrooms are spacious and they’re cleaned every day. It sure beats having to clean out that motel-sized bathroom you share with your suitemates. Let’s be honest here, does anyone really want to clean their own bathroom?

I’ve been fortunate enough to have not had any roommate issues in my time in the dorms. They really try and scare you with that stuff at orientation, and I don’t buy into it. I’ve heard some roommate horror stories, and I’m grateful to have had the same roommate for two years. But I think a lot of the problems with roommates happen because of a lack of communication. If you’ve got problems with your roommate you should try and resolve them as quickly as possible. Tension in your room isn’t going to help, especially if you choose to stick it out for the entire year.

Then there’s the food. Given that the Brody Complex has the largest non-military cafeteria in the United States, the food selection is amazing. There is some food I won’t touch, but there’s enough good stuff there to keep me coming back.

Don’t forget Lafayette Square. I’ve seen many a day when the line to get in there reaches out the door — the food is that good. Living on campus, you can sample all the delicacies of the cafeterias without having to cook your own meals.

Living in the dorms isn’t fun all the time, but in the end it’s all part of the college experience and one that I have enjoyed very much.

Published on Sunday, September 30, 2007