As I was recently watching the movie Van Wilder, the story of a college student who is afraid of life after school, I realized how many movies promote the idea that the typical "college experience" involves a curfew-free life of endless partying, a lot of junk food and moving into the dorms. I guess the movies were wrong, because I have yet to experience the on-campus lifestyle — I’m still living at home.
For me, things are a little different. I moved here from Venezuela four years ago, and the cultural differences between my country and this one are very apparent.
For one, the traditional college student in my country lives in his or her parents' house until marriage — not cool. And second of all, if you are allowed to move out, you would typically live in an apartment by yourself without any roommates — simply because having roommates is considered "weirdz" and not a common thing to do. In America, having roommates is the most common way of living for a college student.
The problem is that I’ve grown up in the American culture, and when I graduated high school, I was expecting my parents to just let me go and allow me to live on campus like many other college students.
Unfortunately, that wasn’t the case. Because of the culture differences, I feel like I’ve missed out on a lot of great dorm experiences.
When I was in high school, going to college and moving into the dorms was a big deal. It didn’t matter if the dorms were smaller than a box or if you were going to have to share the bathroom with five other people. The point is that it is an experience in your freshman year of college that you’ll never forget.
But five months after graduation, I’m still at my parents' house with a curfew of 1 a.m., and I still have to deal with a constant drill of questions regarding where I’m going and who I’m going with... how annoying.
For the record, it’s not like I hate living at my parents' house. After all, I don’t pay for rent, I always have nice food on the table, and I have a pool and a Jacuzzi for me to use whenever I want.
The problem is that a lot of memorable things happen while living in the dorms that are good for any freshman’s social life, like memories of staying up all night with a bunch of friends in somebody’s dorm or even going to local school concerts. I feel like living in the dorms completes what I dreamt would be my college experience as a freshman.
Some of my older friends — who have already lived at the dorms — keep telling me that I have to live in the dorms for at least one semester because of the experience. I don’t even think I would care if I had to sleep in a room that’s 10 times smaller than mine or that I had roommates. At least I would feel like I’m finally in college and not necessarily just going to class.
In a way, I’m kind of happy that I still do live at home, because at least I don’t have as many distractions as I would have if I lived in the dorms. I wouldn't study as much, I'd eat a lot more junk food, and I'd go to a lot more parties.
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5 comments:
You should definitely live in the dorms.
FAU is building these nice apartment-style dorms soon with kitchens, tile floors, etc on the north end of campus by what will become the Innovation Village -- shops, restaurants, and the football stadium.
You should live THERE when they build it (they should have them up by Fall 2009 if not sooner).
Ya living in the dorms was so cool...and u do get studying done because you're within walking distance of the library. But I understand your pain, I lived at home for a while too and it does fee like you're just missing out on something you'll never get back. But don't worry because I don't think living in the dorms changes who you are one way or another.
To anonymous
They are building a 600-bed apartment facility as Phase I of the Innovation Village. It will be open in Fall 2009 and will have carpet floors, tile, separate bedrooms, and a pool area with BBQ pavillion.
It's going to be on the northeast end of campus, just south of where PBCC is now.
you make it sound like studying less, eating junk food and going to parties is a bad thing.... dorm it up!
I agree that you need to stay in a dorm for at least one semester, but not b/c I think it's a great time. I actually hate living in a dorm - sharing hall bathrooms which always smell and are dirty, plus having a roomate is a pain in the butt for so many reasons I can't list them all (and I get along with my roomate very well). You don't realize how nice it is to be at home until you live in a dorm in my opinion. So don't feel bad or depressed, living at home is great in many ways. The plus to dorms though is meeting hallmates and not having someone to talk to if you feel 'alone' and partying if you are into that kind of stuff.
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