As a freshman entering college, there was probably a ton of things that came to mind that you didn’t even consider the bathroom. You’re not living at home, you have freedom, you’re not a kid anymore. You’ve probably been worrying about what your classes were like and how you would decorate your room, but now it’s time to talk about the stress the dorm shower will cause during your semesters, until you get an apartment.
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The Amount of Space – or lack of. This takes getting used to when you’re used to having a tub sized shower. There isn’t enough space to not be directly under the faucet so it is certain that you will have to get used to having water in your eyes. If you plan on shaving, you might want to rethink your outfit choice and just wear long pants. Plus picking up anything that you drop is like a sport if you don’t want to press your butt against the shower wall.
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Water Gets Everywhere – Water will get on all of your stuff, possibly before you even get in the shower. The floors are just pools of water.
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Shower Shoes – You’ll never realize how big of a privilege it is to shower barefoot at home until you’re sliding around as you walk down the hallway back to the room in your wet, rubber flip flops from the dollar store.
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The Back and Forth – I promise that walking from your room to the bathroom at home isn’t as big of a trip as walking down your dorm hall.
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Everyone Sees You Almost Naked – Walking down the hall in just your robe, you’ll likely run into someone who lives in your dorm, which isn’t that weird because they have to deal with the same thing. The uncomfortable thing is when people have visitors over and you catch them in the hall. Also, if someone is showering at the same time as you, you guys are going to see each other naked, there’s no getting around it.
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Forgetting Something – You know how at home you just leave your conditioner and your comb in the shower? Well between all the back and forth, things start to find a way out of the shower caddy. It’s the worst when you walk all the way to the bathroom and realize you need to go get a new bar of soap because you ran out. Oh and you know how at home if you forget a towel you just scream your brothers name until he brings you one? If you forget your towel in your dorm, good luck figuring that out.
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Sharing – You’re probably used to seeing hair on the shower wall, whether it be your own, your moms, or if you have a sister. There’s just something different about not knowing whose hair it is that makes it twenty times nastier.
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Showering In Silence – I think that most people like to listen music when they shower, but sometimes it’s weird singing out loud and playing your favorite playlist when anyone can walk in at anytime. And if someone’s already playing music, then it feels kinda rude to play your own so you have to wait for them to be done or just listen to their music. Plus, unless you get a waterproof bluetooth speaker, it’s really hard to hear your music playing from inside the pocket of your robe over the shower.
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Shaving – I know I mentioned it before, but shaving really is near impossible in a dorm shower. You will have a thousand missed spots, it’s hard to do without water being in your eyes, plus it’s dark in the showers so you really won’t be able to see what you’re doing. The only thing you’ll probably be able to accomplish is your armpits.
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Cutting it Short- This isn’t like at home where there’s one (or maybe two) showers that everyone in the house has to share and your mom tells you to stop taking so long, you can take as many showers as you want and stay in there for an hour if you really wanted to, but you won’t want to. These showers aren’t enjoyable. There is no exfoliating or bath bombs here if you like to get fancy.
When it comes to showering in your housing building, it’s best to stick to the get in get out method, never forget your towel, and learn to be content with body hair until you get home.