Senior government and politics and information systems major
Last fall, I moved into an on-campus apartment for the first time. After having lived in an overcrowded quad dorm in La Plata Hall the previous year, moving into South Campus Commons 7 felt like heaven. However, I was pretty naive about how my experience would turn out.
During my sophomore year, I, like many others, treated the housing process like it was a war. I had to make sure I was in a group with a low priority number (because low numbers get the best housing), and I had to make sure I chose an apartment that satisfied all my requirements: not too close to ground level, no rooming with smokers and most importantly, no farther than a 10-minute walk from Van Munching Hall.
Though I thought my experience in Commons 7 would be a breeze, I actually ran into one of the toughest housing issues ever. I like to call it the tragedy of the Commons. Living in an apartment can get tough; even though you might have your own room, sharing a large lounge space or kitchen area can mean it’s going to get messy — very messy.
This is what happened: Four of us girls, excited to move out of a dumpy dorm, take advantage of the additional space we have to the point that we all treat the common room like it’s our bedroom — clothes, books and food end up scattered around the entire place. Because it’s a shared space, no one assumes individual responsibility for it. It’s not our personal property, so why bother? Trust me, our individual bedrooms look and smell a lot better than anything we have to share.
To those moving into their own apartments, such as Commons or Courtyards, next year know this: Living in your own space isn’t as glorious as you think. Sure, it might beat living in a quad in La Plata, and your chances of dying from asbestos might be lower, but it isn’t the holy ideal you probably think apartment housing is.
My best piece of advice is to set housing standards the first day of the school year. Don’t wait for the year to draw out and realize your place can have the tendency to look like a pigsty. Don’t be afraid to stand up and impose specific standards. At the end of the day, we’d all prefer living in a pristine apartment with cleaning schedules and standards than in a messy one that smells like the nasty fog from the campus’s sewer drains.
Caroline Carlson is a junior government and politics and information systems major. She can be reached at ccarlsondbk@gmail.com.
