More to Life

• I live in a 14' x 12' cell, if not smaller.
• My room is classified as a "super single," which is now a double.
• The screen on my window is offset.
• The curtain is ripped.
• The paint on the walls is peeling.
• The carpets are stained.
• The lighting, well, does not light the room.
• My wardrobe door and drawers are broken.
• The TV lounge on my floor lacks a TV.
• There is one men's bathroom for the whole floor.
• I need to cross two stairways, the common area, the TV lounge, get to the bathroom to do my business or shower.
• The bathrooms are sick and gross.

I can go on, but I think that covers most things. They built a new dorm on West campus (which houses the non-freshmen). This is the first year it's open, and it has its own dining hall, among other amazing features. I dined there tonight with a friend I met in my biology class last year along with her roommate. You know, everyone complains about this new dining hall. Yeah it's smaller, there's less of a selection, but I loved it! It was nice. It was new, and the food was good.

Since they have access to the new dorm, we ventured deep into its halls after our dinner. The halls are air conditioned, but the rooms aren't. But the rooms are each equipped with big ceiling fans. Of course everything is new and beautiful: carpets, paint, furniture, bathrooms. Speaking of bathrooms, they have that great situation like I had last year: each bathroom has one toilet in a separate room, one shower in a separate room, and two sinks. Nothing industrial. This dorm also has guest rooms for visiting faculty and staff. We walked by the room Ms. Janet Reno herself will be living in in a couple weeks!!!

Well, I don't know what to say. It's beautiful, it's gorgeous, I'm jealous. After that, the girls showed me the other (older) dorms in this new cooperative. They're called the gothics, because, well, they're gothic style. You walk through them and you think you're back in the 14th century. It's flippy. But some of them actually have huge rooms. And some of them are really small and "intimate" with only 6 people to a floor.

Before tonight, I felt like I live in a shit-hole and that there was nowhere better go to because everything else resembles a shit-hole, too. Tonight showed me that compared to everyone else I really did get it bad, but that there is also something better to keep my fingers crossed for. The chances of getting a single are slim, but heck, if I can live somewhere a little more humane, I'll happily settle for a double. I lived through it last year. With some improvement, I can probably live through it this year, too.

I wish everyone could have beautiful rooms in beautiful dorms and all that. But since that's not the case, and since there's already a long-term plan to tear down the nasty dorms and rebuild them into mini-palaces, the least I can do now is try to make my situation a little more tolerable. So after my evening of dorm-touring, I rushed over to the office of my Residence Hall Director and snagged a "Room Change Request Form." I filled it out, explained why I'd like to relocate, and got my roommate to sign it. I told him that I hope he takes no offense because it's nothing personal. He then told me that it's cool because he's already on a waiting list for a single! Ahh! He said the Housing Office told him there probably won't be anything till next semester. Oh well, at least I can say that I tried! Better off having tried then not done anything at all. Besides, maybe someone is smiling down upon me benevolently? :) We shall see...