by Kae Dennert
I hated living on-campus. The mold, the roommates, the noise? I only lived on-campus for a year, but I could never go back. Don’t get me wrong, if you have no other choices, I get it – I really do – but other than that, no thanks.
I don’t get why anyone would want to put themselves in a situation where they have to slum it with a shit-ton of other people when they could have their own space. I’m not paying 10k+ a year to live in half of a room with no private bathroom for 7 months, when I can pay half that and have a house year-round (AND MY OWN ROOM).
I lived in campus apartments on the ground floor, which meant I would wake up with ants crawling on me, and get sick at least once a month from the mold. Not to mention my roommate had the opposite schedule as me, staying up until 3 A.M. laughing and talking while I was trying to sleep, because I had practice at 6am the next day.
It was nearly impossible to fit all of the things I needed into my dorm room, considering we’re given such little space for our objects. Sharing a regular sized closet between two people and having no other space besides under our beds was obnoxious, and anytime I needed anything new I had no idea how I was going to fit it.
Off-campus is significantly nicer because I’m able to be in charge of my own spaces, I don’t have to share a room, and I have a private bathroom. I also got to choose my own roommates (shout out to them), which means no more randoms that make life extremely more difficult.
I will end by saying this: I spent my last 3 months of on-campus living on my friend’s couch walking a half mile each way to school so I didn’t have to share a room with my roommate and deal with the dorm space. It isn’t worth it to live on-campus.
One Comment
Oh, poor you. How about sleeping in troop berthing in an amphibious troop transport ship for six months. Your “rack” (bunk) is literally 18 inches under your squad mates’ body. Eight racks holding six or eight Marines on top of each other. If you stand a “watch” you climb down doing your best not to step on your buddy. The small compartment holds 250 Marines.
You eat on the mess deck with fellow Marines and Sailors too. No beer while underway or in port. You learn to live and adjust to many people of all ethnicities and races. Depending on the ship your new “colonge” becomes diesel, JP-5 avaiation fuel, or onions from the galley.
For officers, you sleep usually in a six or eight man small stateroom with other company grades- 2nd Lt, 1st Lt, and Captains. If any are pilots they will be in and out and at odd hours during flight operations. In the wardroom the food is ok, but there is always good quality hot coffee 24 hours a day. You all pay for your own food, unlike enlisted Marines,
There are more difficult things than on-campus housing. After Humboldt State I served in the Marines and being deployed on Navy ships was always a highlight of my service. It was sometimes hard and the conditions weren’t always the best, but I never regretted serving.
We are Lumberjacks. A warm bed in the bunkhouse, hard work, and hearty meals were all our historical mascot needed. When did HSU students become so whiney?