The Suite Life: Finding Home at Barnard
“Let’s go around and say our roses and thorns of the semester”, one of my suitemates says as we all emerge from our own rooms and into the common area. The response, “definitely our living situation, how did we get so lucky”, is met with colossal smiles and nods of agreement from the five other suitemates in the room. As we all sit around the table, laughing and sharing funny encounters we had during the day, I glance up at our growing wall of disposable camera pictures, and can’t help but think to myself, how did we get so lucky.
Going to college 8,045 miles away from my home in Hong Kong, nerves pulsed through my veins at the thought of being apart from my family for such a long period of time. However, living in a suite with five of my best friends has certainly made my experience at Barnard feel like a home away from home. After your first year at Barnard, you can choose to live in any of Barnard residencies beyond the quad. One of the options is Plimpton, a residence with suite-style apartments for sophomores, juniors, and seniors. I want to share with you my experience living in a suite at Barnard, and how it has made my experience at Barnard feel more like home. I’ve gathered my top 5 favorite experiences living “the suite life” at Barnard.
Family Dinners A colorful assortment of roasted vegetables sit in the oven and pasta is boiling on the stove as fragrant scents waft from the kitchen and into our little common area. The convenience of having a kitchen in our suite gives us plenty of time to brush up on our “cheffing” skills and means time for family dinner. As we enjoy mouthfuls of whatever delicious creation we cook that day, we chat about our days, share inside jokes, and enjoy each other’s company. Not to mention, it is a great way to unwind from a stressful day and to improve our cooking skills.
Game Nights As a suite, we have had plenty of memorable game nights. I don’t remember laughing more than the night we played a game that was a combination of telephone and Pictionary. The rules are simple: We each start with a stack of papers where we write anything we want on the top piece. Then we pass the stack to the next person, who will draw a picture representing what it is. Next, the stack is passed to the next person who writes what they think it is, and the cycle continues through everyone. In the end, each person is left with a hilarious storybook, which we each kept as souvenirs to later reminisce on the uncontrollable laughter of that night.
Movie Characters in Real Life “If we were all movie characters, who would each of us be?” This question was in response to a previous conversation we had about how we felt like the cast of Friends, living together in New York City, embarking on adventures together. As a suite of six, an eruption of laughter was the response to the accuracy of the six hilarious Friends characters we embodied so closely. We expanded to assigning everyone in the suite the character they are most like from shows like How I Met Your Mother, High School Musical, and even Game of Thrones, and even decorated each others’ doors with collages of those notable TV and film characters.
Being Inventors I remember spending Galentine's day with my suite and planning to have a movie night. “Wouldn’t it be cool if we had a projector”, one of my suitemates chimed in, “why don’t we just make one?” She quickly looked up a tutorial on youtube of a homemade projector. We had some variations of all the materials: some cardboard boxes, a lightbulb, scissors, and a phone to project the movie from. Although it didn’t work as we wanted in the end, and even displayed the pictures even smaller than the phone screen, the impulsiveness of the desire to create and innovate was definitely memorable.
Random Dance Parties Last but not least, our random dance parties never fail to put a smile on my face. Especially when we are all busy with academics, it is often a great stress reliever to just surround yourself with the people you love, to let loose, and just dance.
I hope my experience living in a suite at Barnard has given you a glimpse into what it could look like and some ideas that could be fun to try with your friends! Your experience here is what you make it -- make it suite!
-Morgan Zee