First-Year Dorm Life
It’s first-year move-in day. I’d moved in by myself a few days earlier to attend a pre-orientation for First Generation Low Income students, so I simply lean back and observe the excited chaos around me. I enter the doors of Brooks hall as people bustle in and out of the elevator, carrying all kinds of things--ranging from mirrors, to stuffed animals, to school supplies. The excitement is palpable, combined with a strong sense of newness. I have yet to meet my roommate--we were assigned to one another by the college and had only messaged a bit before school started. Not knowing them yet is nerve wracking. I climb the stairs, winding back and forth until I reach my floor. I catch glimpses of people moving in, families hugging their loved ones goodbye, and a lot of laughter. My RA is talking to a family, but she smiles and waves at me. I happily return the gesture. Then I go down to my room, my stomach flipping a couple of times with nervousness before opening the door, and there they are: my roommate!
I was blessed last year with a wonderful living situation. Barnard residential life pairs all first-years with a roommate after students fill out a form about living preferences--what time you go to bed, how social you are, if you like quiet living spaces, etc. In the quad, there are doubles, triples, and quads available to first year students. I lived in a walkthrough double on Brooks 5. In my experience, I found the rooms to be spacious, but I didn’t bring a lot of stuff to college, so that opinion may vary from person to person. There is also a lounge space on each floor. It is furnished with a full kitchen and microwave and is a great place to cook, watch movies, and study together with friends! There is also a study space on the first floor of Brooks, which stays open for students 24/7. The 2 am solidarity with other nightowls was quite comforting at some times.
As for roommates, I think there can be this idealized vision of what a roommate relationship should look like. This is a friendly reminder that there are all different kinds of roommate relationships at Barnard. My roommate and I hung out a good amount, getting breakfast with one another before class or running errands together in the city. Beyond my own experience, I’ve seen roommates that are inseparable, hanging out together all the time. I’ve seen roommates that coexist, but are not very close. I’ve seen roommates pairs that do not end up working out. Even in these situations, it seems to resolve itself in the end, either with a roommate switch or some other shift in one’s living situation. I had a friend who needed to change roommates, as they didn’t mesh well. She and her roommate advocated for their situation to be changed, and they switched roommates later in the semester. I really appreciate how Barnard has established ways to adapt to different students’ living experiences over the years. Based on my friend’s experience, they do their best to listen to your experience and offer opportunities for change.
I loved living in the Quad, especially because all first-years live together. All of the different halls in the Quad are connected to one another, making it really easy to visit friends living in other halls, as well as make new friends. My hall was quite close, and a lot of this closeness was fostered through the efforts of my Residential Assistant, or RA. We had hall meetings every so often, helping each of us find a voice and place within the hall community. We were encouraged to bring up anything that was on our mind, speak about the community we were building together, and go through any important logistical information. My RA also hosted a lot of bonding events. We had picnics, cooking nights, outings, and more. It was a great way for me to get out and spend time with people that would continue to be relevant in my everyday life, as I saw my hallmates each day, from bumping into them in the hall or spending time in someone’s room. Oddly enough, I actually remember the bathroom being a really fun and social place. Organic friendships can be formed while brushing your teeth together, or while talking to someone while showering in the stall beside them. I once gave my friend an undercut in the bathroom, and a lot of people who had come to the bathroom to brush their teeth or something ended up staying to watch the hair transformation. It remains one of my most fun memories from living in my hall. Spontaneous moments of community like this made living on in a dorm like setting really special.
The Quad is also in a very convenient location, nestled right on Barnard’s campus. As a result, it’s super easy to access the dining halls, libraries, and academic buildings on Barnard’s campus. In fact, you barely have to go outside to access Barnard Hall, from which you can access virtually any other place on Barnard campus via the tunnels! This is really nice during the cold and rainy winter days. It also is located right next to the subway station, which I found myself using a lot to get to and from work, explore the city, and spend time out of the Barnumbia bubble. Furthermore, there are a bunch of resources in the Quad.This includes Well Woman, Furman-Rosemary Counseling Center, and Barnard Primary Care. As a first year, this convenient accessibility was key, as I was still trying to figure out how to navigate all these new spaces.
Overall, I really enjoyed my first year dorming experience. That being said, there is a wide spectrum of first-year living experiences and I don’t want to paint it as this picturesque living experience. There were definitely hard parts about living in a dorm, just because of the nature of living in close proximity with people all the time and the general hardships that might come along with housing. I know people who didn’t click with their hall and I know people who made their best friends in their hall. And that makes sense--everyone finds community in different places, and that’s the beauty of the coexistence of many different communities. But however a person’s living situation ends up, I think people will ultimately grow from living in a first-year community space.