I had my share of on-campus living and off-campus housing during my college career. I spent my first 2 years living in residence halls.
During my first year, I lived in a building no longer standing (RIP Lafollette, you will be missed). It was your stereotypical residence hall room, big enough to fit me and my roommate but with no bells and whistles. We had no AC, lots of bugs, and communal bathrooms. The best on-campus living experience ever. I mean it.
We didn’t have much, we were all freshmen, and made the best out of what we had. We spent many nights with 5 people in our small room eating pizza and doing homework or in the common room not getting any work done. We walked everywhere because we didn’t understand the shuttle system and we had the best time sneaking from building to building using the basement.
In my second year, we stayed in the newest residence hall, with semi-private bathrooms, even smaller rooms, but an elevator that went all the way up each floor and nice communal spaces. While we loved the space, we were removed from our friends who lived in other buildings. So just as any college student would do, we purchased an air mattress and had sleepovers too many nights to count. The new room was great we had AC but because of the separation, we didn’t get close to anyone on that floor. I could tell you the description of every girl that lived on our side of our freshman dorm including a few on the other side but not a clue who lived with us our second year.
Then comes junior year, I was ready for more freedom, so we did what any college student would do and got an apartment. Apartments are elevated dorms in college btw. Our apartment was well priced, 2 minutes from campus, and 2 minutes from our friends. Another great year of fun and I was blessed with the best roommates. My first roommate had been my same roommate since freshman year, and the other lived just across the hall from us. We ordered from DoorDash way too often and really enjoyed having more personal space.
Senior year, I thought would be even better. I had even more personal space before because I moved into a house…except it was 5 women, 2 bathrooms, and 1 kitchen. The college roommate story from hell. While I loved the location of my house 1 block away from campus, the bars, and the food, I had a terrible time with my roommates. It started out great until the roommate and me that moved from our shared apartment realized we lived differently. We frequently washed all the dishes in the sink because that’s just how we were, we believed in leaving the space better than we left it, and always shared in buying items for the bathrooms. That was not the case for our roommates, we spent the year arguing over text because they would avoid us, one roommate moved out in December, and the house remained divided 2 and 2.
The price was great and while I thought a house would be quieter than an apartment, we were neighbors with a frat house that hosted parties all weekend and would fight once they were over.
Still, I learned so much from both on-campus and off-campus living. I learned how to fix small maintenance issues, live on my own, and manage my freedom. Residence halls helped me make friends and become responsible for myself more than I was living at home and off-campus living taught me valuable lessons about paying bills and living on my own.
What was your first apartment or home like? Comment down below.