Sep

06

High-Class Dorm Living: The Life of a Penthouse Resident

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This year I have the privilege of being a resident of the exclusive Daum Penthouse…just kidding! I do live on the top floor of Daum, but my room is FAR from being considered anywhere near luxurious. Nevertheless, there are good things and bad things about Daum, just like any residence hall.

The Good

  • The location- As they stress on nearly every HGTV show, location, location, location! The location of Daum is great! It’s the closest dorm to the Pentacrest (a 5 or 6 minute walk) and right next to Burge, which houses the dining hall for the east side of campus. There’s also an underground tunnel that connects Daum to Burge, which will be convenient during the winter and on rainy days. The dorm is also connected to the Blank Honors Center which offers a lot of resources for students in the Honors program, and if I’m in the BHC studying late at night, I can use the skywalk to safely get back into Daum instead of venturing outside.
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The view from my room is great!

  • It’s quiet- Daum is the Honors dorm and has continuous quiet hours. Don’t worry, being in Daum isn’t like living in a library; occasionally there’s someone loud in the hallway or someone playing loud music but it’s manageable and temporary. It gets pretty quiet around 11 each night, and I haven’t had any issues with being woken up by loud neighbors.
  • The closet space- I’m very pleased with the amount of closet space I have. My closet is 4 to 5 feet deep and wide enough to fit a dresser in. There are three different bars to hang clothes on and a nice storage space at the top of the closet. I’d like to point out that none of the closets in Daum have doors. I bought an adjustable curtain rod and a long curtain to hang in front of the closet. If my closet is messy, I just have to close the curtain and not have to worry about cleaning it up!
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I’m able to easily fit all of my summer clothes in my closet

  • The bathrooms- A few of the residence halls have newly-renovated bathrooms, including Daum. The usual community-style layout has been replaced with a much more private, pod-like design. There are six rooms with showers and one with just a toilet and sink, and one sink not in a room. So far I’ve only had to wait for a shower room twice, and both times were for less than 5 minutes. I’ve started getting up a few minutes earlier and since then I haven’t had any problems.
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A bathroom pod in Daum

  • The friendly residents- I haven’t had any issues with rude people so far. People tend to leave their doors open a lot (on all the floors I’ve visited), and that really helps contribute to a welcoming environment.

The Bad:

  • The room size- This is mainly an issue for the 7th and 8th floors. My room has a decent amount of space, but the dimensions of the room are a little strange. My room is around 9.5 feet wide and 21 feet long. The rooms on the lower floors and some of the rooms on the ends of my hall (coincidentally right next door to me) are a lot bigger, probably 5-6 feet wider.
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My room isn’t very big but I’ve tried to make it feel as cozy as possible

  • There aren’t many meeting areas- The lobby of Daum is pretty dead. It’s also really small compared to the lobby of Burge. I feel like it’s a little bit hard to meet people from other floors because there aren’t really any big spaces for everyone to gather in. Each floor has a nice-sized lounge, and I’m looking forward to using that in the future.

Overall, the positives definitely outweigh the negatives, and I’m really happy living in Daum. It’s the Honors dorm on campus, so if you are interested in living here you have to be invited to join the honors program and accept that invitation. I think this is going to be a great place to live and I love it so far!

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