Nostalgia is totally creeping in as I bring together the foundations of this post series… I never thought I would miss the dorm! 😢

We are coming up on a year since I started college and moved into my dorm. I felt it’s only appropriate to begin a blog post series about my dorm! I’ll write about do’s and don’t’s, my dorm shopping list, and dorm life! I’ll begin answering some frequently asked questions about dorm life, then dive into additional individual post topics!

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FAQ’s about Dorm Life

1. What surprised you about dorm life?

I feel like I had a really luxurious dorm experience comparatively. Man have I heard some horror stories! However, I was definitely cautious about a few big things to avoid starting the dorm process. I’ll coin these “things” as Make-Or-Breaks (MOB’s). I did not have a big budget. But tbh I had no idea what having a budget even meant until probably half-way/three-quarters-way through college (lol rip). Here I will link a list of Texas A&M residence halls. This references a few different locations I might mention later on!

MOB #1

I lived in Wells Hall, which is called a Modular style dorm. Modulars have a private bathroom shared by two roommates. This is MOB #1. I did NOT want to be in a communal bathroom sharing sinks, toilets, and showers with 50 other girls on my floor. No thanks. Plus we had a cleaning lady who cleaned our bathroom once a week and this was a lifesaver! AND the Modulars were much bigger than the rooms in the Commons. Honestly, my weeks went by so fast, it’s gross to think about what could have been with the bathroom…

MOB #2

My room opened into a hallway, that I shared with only girls. My dorm was co-ed by floor which means the boys were on the 1st and 3rd floors and girls were on 2nd and 4th floors. MOB #2. In reality, I thought this was going to be much more meaningful than it actually was… if anything I regretted my decision with this. But it wasn’t a big deal at all!! Going into college I thought I was going to be this big social butterfly 🦋 who had friends all over the place. Uh no… at least not for a little ol’ engineering student like me : )

I chose a co-ed dorm because I like having guys that are friends and I thought it would be cool to have a community where I live with both guys and girls where we could all hangout! But I really did not spend much time at the dorm and when I did, I was sleeping. Really the only time I thought about this was when I heard stories of randos coming into rooms in the middle of the night/day. Yes, scary freakin’ horror stuff y’all. Or when people would leave their door unlocked and they noticed someone had been there while they were gone. Moral of the story: lock your doors people! This and smelling the boys’ floor every time I went downstairs 🤢 were the only two reasons I maybe wouldn’t live in a co-ed dorm again.

MOB #3

My MOB #3 was having a roommate in engineering. I knew it was going to be tough, or I THOUGHT I knew lol. But, having someone who understood what I was going through with classes was seriously so so important and I’m thankful I was firm on that. Trish and I had countless nights and conversations complaining and feeling sorry for each other about how much first-year engineering sucks! It sounds pitiful, and it was, haha but it was much needed. College is an adjustment for everyone and even though Trish and I were pretty much strangers, we could connect on getting through it together. ♥

Overall, I think the thing that surprised me most about my dorm was how spacious and new it was. Living in the Commons seemed miserable because it was so small and seemed like things were always gross or breaking. Wells was newly renovated (MOB #4) and we got lucky with a corner room (one of the biggest on the floor). Another thing that was probably most surprising was the lack of people I knew in my dorm. I saw these people every day but no one really made any attempts to get to know each other on my floor which was only semi-depressing.

2. What was your favorite thing about dorm life?

Hands down, the convenience. I haven’t even begun living off-campus yet but I know how much I am going to miss the ease of transportation. I could pretty much walk anywhere I needed to be on campus within 20 minutes. OR if I woke up late and had 15 minutes to get to class I could catch a bus and get there on time!

A close second would be the on-campus Aggie Spirit feeling. It’s hard to beat experiencing it up close and personal every morning when the Corps is playing the War Hymn at 6 AM, or hearing Midnight Yell blaring from Kyle Field the night before a home game. I really will miss these little things and it makes me sad reminiscing them. Eventually, there will be a blog post I can link to about Aggies so you can get a better feel for this super special feeling! But until then, just take my word for this one thing. Nothing relates to the intimacy of being connected to your university like living at its heart. ♥

3. Benefits of living in the dorm?

1. Being close to literally everything I need. – I lived on the Southside of campus which was not really the closest to all my classes. However, in terms of being off-campus, it’s definitely closer! I walked a lot to get food because I didn’t like eating at the Commons dining hall. I primarily ate Chick-fil-a and Houston St. Subs for lunch (haaaayyy Freshman 15!!)
2. On-campus Traditions! – Going to Midnight Yell was super easy because we just walked there! I never worried about parking or leaving early to avoid traffic! When I went to Muster, I walked from my dorm and it was just really convenient.
3. Naps? – I’m not much of a napper but my roommate and best friend took A LOT of naps! In between classes, they would go back to the dorm to catch up on sleep. Meanwhile, I stayed at either Zachry (the engineering building) or Evans (the library) and worked on homework. 😂
4. Food – We never had to cook! It was mandatory for on-campus students to purchase a meal plan. Sometimes it was hard to keep eating the same food over and over again, but the convenience made it SO worth it! But also, I barely had time to laundry every week let alone cook myself food???
5. There’s always a change of scenery available! – I’m one of those people that gets burnt out studying in one place for too long. I start to feel bored being in the same place day after day looking at the same walls. Definitely one of my favorites living on campus was the ability to switch up my study spots! I found a few gems around campus that I will truly miss! It was all so easy being right there!

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