Tuesday, July 19, 2011

Dorm Life 101


During my lunch break, I turned on my phone and saw an email from Don. He emailed the Brownies asking us to describe our dorm life. By reading that email, I realized that I haven't talked very much at all about my room. I have described my roommate Kaylyn, but not much about the room or Harkness House itself.

A. Set Up Of The Room
I cannot speak for the amount of space in a single room, but for a shared room, the capacity is pretty large. This dorm is about as big as my bedroom is back at home. There are two sets of desks, two sets of drawers, two closets, two chairs, two trashcans, and two "rocking" chairs (I put the quotation marks in because the chair can be pushed back and sticks in a rocking position, but you can't actually rock it or you will fall backwards).

On move-in day, my bed was pushed all the way next to the wall. Kaylyn, who arrived hours before I did, stated that her bed was pushed against the opposite wall as well. So what did she do? She pushed her bed so that the back bed frame faces the window, which is opposite the door. Then she moved her drawer and desk so that they are backed up against the East wall, and my desk and drawer are pushed up against the North wall. This proves beneficial for me, since the electrical outlet is located on the West wall. I did not want my bed that close to a wall, so I pushed my bed next to Kaylyn's (not completely next to it; we have a good amount of space in between), so I could get air from the window during sleep as well.

B. House Locations 
All of Brown Session 2 is staying in Harkness House. The Leadership Institute is spread into three houses, which are all neighbors: Harkness (all girls), Goddard (all boys), and Chapin (all girls). I believe that some of Brown Session 1 stayed in Keeney and some others stayed in another house? I cannot speak for them.

C. Internet Access
The Internet access in my room connects very easily. To connect to the internet, you have to either sign up for an account or use your email as a guest login. It's very simple to use. For me personally, the Wi-Fi Internet connection has worked fine. At some points if I'm working at night I'll have to move to a different part in the room so the Internet can load quicker, but other than that, it is fine. I have noticed that some of the other girls have been complaining about slower Internet access, though.

D. Roommate Situation
I have shared a room only at one point in my life, and it was so long ago that I do not remember it. I was very excited to have a roommate though. Kaylyn is a great person and a great roomie (walking into a dorm with a fan, fridge, and food is lovely). I think I hit the lottery with a great roommate situation. Every girl in Harkness is very nice and I feel like I could be suited with anyone else and I would be fine. To future Brownies, even if you and your roommate do not end up becoming best friends, chances are you will at the least be good acquaintances - that is how nice everyone is here. They are very open and supportive. One good thing to note is to try to come up with a good consensus of sleep time and a wake-up schedule, and also rules, such as privacy in terms of property, slamming doors, being a slob, cleaning up after oneself if someone wants to eat breakfast/lunch/dinner/a snack in the dorm, etc.

E. Conclusion
In my opinion, dorm life is pretty great. It is definitely something that I was able to get used to. Even though Kaylyn and I will only live together for two weeks, I feel like this is definitely a good training experience for when I go to college and if I live in a shared dorm. I think everyone who is in the Ivy League Connection and has a roommate should embrace it, because you meet some great people at the university you are studying at. 

2 comments:

  1. Adrianne,

    My, oh, my but doesn't your room look so homey?

    Sounds like you and your roomie handled your cohabitation concerns quite well. That's not usually the case, though. All too often the roomies wait until a problem arises and then tries to resolve that problem--all after tempers have flared and emotions are running high.

    It may be a little late but you all still have a few days left before you head home so in your remaining days you might consider using the Ethernet cable I loaned you and plug your laptop directly into the port. This will increase the reliability of your Internet access and dramatically increase the speed.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Very nice dorm setup! I like how you have your beds pushed close together.

    ReplyDelete

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