Freshmen at Large- Cristine

Dorm, apartment, home, “off campus dorm.” Where you live your first year in college tends to play a vital role in your freshmen experience. I began the year in a fabulous off campus dorm. It was within a reasonable walking distance to campus, I had my own bedroom and I shared living room. It seemed like the dream dorm for a freshman. That was until about two weeks into school when I realized the majority of the people I had met lived on campus. Then, a week after that, I started realizing I was spending so much time on campus for meetings, class and studying, that I was usually on campus more than I was off of it during the day, and for that matter, even sometimes night. And then there’s that whole “freshmen experience” thing: having to share space with someone, wondering what your pot-luck roommate is going to be like, and then enjoying the on campus company of all your friends. About two days before I was to return to College Station after break, I found out I would be allowed to move out of my old residence and into a nice modular dorm on the south side of campus. Now, you may wonder why on earth anyone would switch to sharing a room, but it’s like I said, the freshmen experience. I’ll probably never have the option to live on campus ever again, and I don’t want to look back and feel like I missed out on something. But going from your own bedroom to sharing one is kind of a big deal, and needless to say, the past week has been hectic. But we made due. I no longer have to drive or make a 15 minute trek to see my friends. Now it’s just a phone call and a card swipe away. Sharing a room was surprisingly a very easy transition, and now I know I’m getting the freshmen experience, for better or for worse.