Kat

Coming into college, everyone tends to have  a lot of expectations. People see college dorm rooms in movies and on pinterest and they tend to paint a false picture of what it is actually like. Some misconceptions are pretty negative and may leave some people feeling nervous about moving into a residence hall. However, I am happy to say that most of these things are actually false. since I have survived living in a college dorm room for more than a semester, I wanted to shed a light on what it is like to live in a residence hall at The University of Iowa.

Expectation: Living in such a small room is going to be terrible.

Reality: Living in a dorm room isn’t the most glamorous thing you will ever experience, but trust me when I say that it’s not as bad as it seems. All residence halls are different so experiences may vary, but living in a small room can be not only manageable, but even enjoyable. It is all about organization and planning and with a little work, you can make your dorm room into the room of your dreams. I live in a triple room, which means that I have a little less space than some people in double rooms. However, I have grown to love my little space  and it has transformed into my little home away from home.

Expectation: Living with someone else is going to be hard.

Reality: Having a roommate isn’t always easy, but it doesn’t always have to be hard either. As long as you communicate well with you roommate/ roommates and try your best to respect each other, it can be a great experience. Whether you were able to choose your roommate or you get assigned someone random, you can really make the best out of it. You might even make a best friend for life like I did.

Expectation: RA’s are scary

Reality: While the RA’s job is to make sure that rules are followed, they are also there to support and encourage you. They are students who have already been through the ups and downs of college life, which makes them a great resource.

Expectation: Living on the West side of campus is really inconvenient.

Reality: While I was personally very reluctant to live on the west side of campus, I am very happy where I ended up. Living on the west side gives you a chance to get away from the hustle and bustle of main campus for a while which really helped me. Also, it is closer to Kinnick which makes game days way better, and walking back and forth from west campus to east campus has definately helped me avoid the freshman fifteen.

Expectation: The bathroom situation will be a nightmare

Reality: This was something that I was really nervous for when I came to campus because I have always had a bathroom to myself. However, it isn’t as scary as it seems. Whether you end up with community style bathrooms or pod style bathrooms, you will get used to it after a couple days and it really isn’t that big of a deal. Just don’t forget your shower shoes.

Whether you are preparing to live on campus next year or in the future, I hope these explanations helped clear up some dorm room misconceptions. Go Hawks!

-Kat

 

 

This entry was posted on Wednesday, February 1st, 2017 at 8:42 am and is filed under General, . You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a comment, or trackback from your own site.