That dreadful day of the week is here again. I’ll have to lug a heavy bin of dirty clothes and laundry detergent pods down five flights of stairs (because the elevator is out of order today, of course). Then I’ll have to balance the bin between my hip and the wall, fumbling for my key card to scan into the room of washers and dryers. I’ll do my best to separate the clothes based on color as other people push past me in the crowded space, before any more of my wardrobe becomes stained with burgundy red or pinkish blush. I’ll toss the sweet-scented Tide pod into the drum, hoping my clothes don’t pick up the stale mildew odor permeating the inside of the machine. I’ll wrestle with the key card scanners until it finally accepts payment and lets me start the cycle. 

My arms and back aching, I’ll head up the five flights of stairs like Sisyphus with a laundry basket boulder. I’ll set a timer, and once it goes off, I’ll make the trek yet again down to the washers. I’ll toss the clothes in the dryer, rip out the soft patches of lint in the lint trap, and set another timer. At last, this weekly odyssey is almost complete–until I open the dryer door to find my clothes still devastatingly damp because I was unlucky enough to pick one of the machines that doesn’t actually dry.

At home, laundry was an afterthought for me. I could throw a load in the machine and then go about my business, only returning to hang the clothes and run the dryer once I felt like it. Here, I have to pencil in “laundry” on my agenda in the same way I would schedule homework assignments. Being a student at the University of Iowa feels like a constant blur of motion, always another event to attend or another worksheet to turn in. Sometimes it’s easy to disregard how much time and energy the menial tasks like chores can eat up, so it’s important to set aside enough of your day to get them done. 

Stay strong, fellow dorm residents! Until next time.