Before you enter the collegiate world, one of the realities you’ll have to confront is your living situation. While searching for compatible roommates and calculating the financial benefits of certain dorms are nuisances, living in the dorms is an experience that any student should have before they graduate. Below are the five main reasons why everyone should live in the dorms at some point during their college education.
The Friendships
Living in close quarters with complete strangers is an initially terrifying and strange experience. I remember moving into my dorm and the next day I witnessed one of my hallmates walking through the hallways in a pair of boxers. Nevertheless, these weird strangers slowly become your family. They’re the ones you see when you walk towards your room, the ones who’ll engage you in conversation when they hear you talking next door and the ones who’ll comfort you when they notice you’re having an exceptionally difficult time. In a way, living in the dorms is similar to going to a summer camp, except extend that summer to nine bittersweet months. Only at the dorms can you feel at ease with leaving your door open to the public and striking conversation with people in the bathroom by simply identifying them as friends from their shoes. There’s no doubt in my mind that the people you meet while living at the dorms and end up close with, are the ones who’ll remain after you all go your separate ways.
The Convenience of Commodities
A benefit of living in the dorms is everything you could ever want is accessible. All of the dorms on our campus include washing and drying machines, a computer lab with printing, music practice rooms, a game room, free wifi, free cable, free electricity and most importantly, games and movies available for rental. Although it’s true that some of the appliances offered at some dorms are better than others, (as a former resident of Pioneer Hall I can confirm this) there’s no apartment complex that can guarantee all of these. Additionally, the meal plan required for all residents living in the dorms allows you access to all the dining halls. One swipe and you can have an instantaneous buffet. While you lose the excuse of being a starving college student, you gain unlimited soft serve ice cream which is more beneficial anyways.
The Instantaneous Community
For every dorm you live in, there is an instant sense of community that you share. Especially if you live in Superblock, there are many students living in the dorms around you who live like you do. Because of the similarities students share while living in the dorms, there’s this sense of unity you can feel. For example, those students living in Bailey, the sole dorm on the St. Paul campus, get to know each other very well and share common experiences that any other student living elsewhere wouldn’t understand. These bonds are strengthened over time and seasons, and eventually you’ll be able to recognize almost everyone who lives in your dorm, even if you’ve never spoken to them.
The Lessons Learned
Lessons can be learned from everything you’ve ever experienced, and living in the dorms supplies the best opportunity for learning how to live like an adult. In the dorms, you may have to deal with issues that you may have never faced at home, such as noisy upstairs neighbors and sharing a shower stall with 30 other girls. Nevertheless, the knowledge of how to deal with these unfortunate events can be applied to future instances in your life. Patience is one of the better virtues gained from a dorm life experience, as it grants you a tolerance in dealing with stressful situations or people. Another skill is learning how deal with confrontational situations, whether it be a guy in your dorm who can’t take a hint or a roommate who won’t clean any of her dishes, the skills you learn can be applied to future situations in which confrontation cannot be avoided, such as in the workplace.
The Irreplaceable Memories
While your time in the dorms may be full of trials and tribulations, a rosy retrospection will be all that remains after you reflect upon your past experiences there. The days and nights spent in a seemingly suffocating room turn into fond memories of movie nights in forts, impromptu dance parties with neighbors joining in, and a home spent with roommates turned siblings. The shared bathrooms filled with unidentifiable germs and horrors suddenly are remembered as a communal space where dorm news was exchanged and compliments to every person were given freely. Thin walls that concealed no sound are now recalled as an easier mode of communication, able to listen to someone watching a movie from down the hall and join them in their room with a bag of popcorn in hand. There is no doubt in my mind that the gems garnered from time spent in the dorms are irreplaceable and can’t be created anywhere else.
All these reasons showcase why deciding to live in the dorms is not the end of the world as some people make it out to be. Rather, the dorms offer a space that is undeniably unique and unites all college goers alike. The friends you make, the resources offered, the community made, the lessons learned and the memories earned from such a place are what makes it so special.