25 Things You Need to Know About Living in the Dorms
Sometimes moving out means learning things "the hard way." In other words, it means making a lot of dumb mistakes before you figure out the best way to do stuff. So, benefit from my mistakes here and take advantage of these 25 tips about living in the dorms (and feel free to share your own if you have any!).
Roommates
My roommate situation varied throughout college, but there are a few things
that applied to every situation:
1. Set up
ground rules ASAP-preferably before you move in! This will save you from a lot
of awkward situations later.
2. Don't
live with your close friends from high school unless your lifestyles and
personalities are SUPER compatible. Living together puts a whole new
strain on your relationship, and it has ruined more than a few pairs of best
friends.
3. Keep
the lines of communication open. Yes, confrontation is awkward, but dreading
every day with your roommate is worse. If something is bothering you,
talk about it.
4. If
you're sick, it's probably bugging/freaking out your roommate (especially if
you are coughing until all hours of the night). Try to be considerate of
this. And know what to do if your roommate gets sick.
5. Make
sure you know each other's feelings about having overnight guests, and respect
them!
6. Discuss
what you do & don't want to share. Some people are totally fine with
sharing everything from clothes to food to their laptop, others don't even want
you to step into their side of the room.
7. Wear
headphones.
Relationships
& Friendships (in the Dorms)
Dorms are close quarters, which means that everybody is involved in everyone
else's business:
8. Dating
someone on your floor is risky. Everybody on your floor will be involved
whether you like it or not, and if you break up, you will still find yourselves
face to face pretty often.
9. Excessive
PDA is not cool. Also, making out is still considered "public" (and
therefore not cool) if you & your significant other are "alone" in your
room with your roommate still there. Trust me, your roommate doesn't
appreciate it.
10. Don't
date your Resident Advisor. It's probably against the rules (so it could
get him or her fired) and if it ends badly... See #8.
11. If
you are mad at/break up with your significant other, don't write about it on
your blog, as an away/status message, on Facebook or MySpace, or anywhere
public. Things can get ugly fast, so if you MUST vent, do it in a private email
to someone who won't pass it around. (Same rule applies with your roommate).
12. Don't
judge people before you get to know them. I thought one girl on my floor
was super rude, but (Oops!) it turned out she was just shy-she ended up being
one of my best friends.
Food
My first quarter at UCSD, my roomie and I had a pint of Ben & Jerry's each,
every night, which leads me to remind you that...
13. Ice cream
doesn't count as a meal. Yes, it's fun to eat whatever you want for a
change, but after a while you may find out the true meaning of the term
"Freshman 15."
14. Balance
is the key to staying healthy at school-what you eat makes a big difference in
how strong your immune system is. Remember to get all the food groups!
15. When
you get sick of cafeteria food, you can actually cook some pretty good stuff in
the dorms. Check out THIS POST for links to great recipe sites with all
kinds of things you can make without a real kitchen. (Or check out my fast,
cheap, & easy breakfast recipes and snack ideas)
16. Free
food abounds in the dorms and on campus. Learn how to find it here.
Parents
& Siblings
This applies to living anywhere away from home:
17. Whether or
not they let on, your family probably misses you-especially your
siblings. It's hard to be left behind, especially if they're the last one
at home. Try to keep that in mind and make a point of talking to the sibs
when you call home, chatting online with them, or shooting off an email now and
then.
18. If
your parents are calling too much-or not enough-it's okay to talk to them about
it. Just be sure to be kind, and try to find a compromise. (i.e. If phone
calls are too overbearing for you, suggest IM or email.)
Computers
19. Something
about the college lifestyle-whether it's the shared network, or the constant
file swapping-seems to mean its super easy to get a virus. Invest in an
anti-virus software (you can usually order one from Frys.com with a big
rebate-you could end up paying $10 or even nothing after rebate).
20. Don't
leave your laptop laying around in common areas. They're valuable and
easy to steal-don't lose yours. It seems like common sense, but so many people
just leave them while they go off for lunch or head out for the night!
Laundry
In my dorm building, there were 70 kids to every 2 washers and dryers-and not
all of them knew how to do laundry right. Here's what I learned:
21. Don't
leave your detergent or fabric softener in the laundry room-other people will
use it, and they won't ask first.
22. Get back to your machine on time! Some
people will throw your clean clothes on the floor so they can get to the washer
or dryer. Other people will steal your clothes. Weird.
23. If you're afraid you aren't going to get back
in time, leave a post-it with your room # or ph # on the machine. Most people
will come over or call to and ask you to move your stuff before they take over.
24. If you have coin laundry, always, always keep
quarters on hand. Actually, you can make friends by changing people's
money-quarters are a valuable commodity!
25. Do small to medium loads. Large loads
don't get as clean and also won't dry all the way (which leaves you with the
option of wet clothes, or feeding more cash into the dryer).