My freshman and sophomore years at the University of Tampa went by in the blink of an eye, and for those first two years, I lived on campus. Those first two years were certainly interesting and stressful. My first year, I lived in Vaughn, where the fire alarm went off what felt like every other week at the most random times, and my second year was a bit more chill as I lived in Straz Hall. I loved living on campus because that meant that I got to see my friends more. In the schedule that I have now, I don’t have classes every day, which makes it harder to see them since some of them still live on campus. Living on campus also felt like I knew what was going on around campus. Now I feel like I miss out on a lot and then find out about it the day after the events on Instagram. Also, living off campus means that I have to wake up earlier than I used to because of traffic, instead of walking to my classes.
Living off campus was a big transition for me as I was so used to living on campus and living with the same people I lived with for two years. I liked the routine of it and I was never really good at new things. After finding out that we weren’t going to be living together anymore because, after sophomore year, it became very hard trying to find on-campus housing for students, I started to worry that I wasn’t going to be able to get housing of any kind. Luckily, I was able to find housing off campus that is very close to the school and find incredibly nice roommates. When I started living off-campus, I realized that even though I am missing out on things on campus and not able to see my friends every day, it’s nice to not be constantly in the campus environment.
Living off campus with other upperclassmen students who go to UTampa is a nice change of pace because it feels like we live in a calmer and more mature environment. I feel like I’m not bombarded with everything at school. Living off-campus gives me a chance to step back from everything and just relax a bit.Â