Living in the townhouses at Colgate has certainly been an experience with its ups and downs. 16 girls in one house often makes for a disaster zone. I look around right now and see clothes strewn all over the common area, our craft table is full on mess (yes, we have a craft table), and dirty dishes are piled up in our not so neat kitchen. Since Colgate only cleans the bathrooms, we attempt to designate certain days as clean up days. Clearly these are our least favorite days because we haven’t been strict enough about enforcement.
While it is amazing to have a full kitchen, it is also the cause of most of our fights. Food thieves are rampant in 2B. Everybody labels their food and puts it away, but on Thursday night when you try to make dinner, your food is mysteriously gone. “Drunk eating” other people’s food is the worst crime one can commit in the townhouse. We’re a bunch of hungry girls and we get cranky when our food is missing. Price Chopper is so far away…
One of the biggest perks of the townhouse is that you are part of a community. When it was nice out (will it ever be warm again?) we would camp out on our stoop all day. Some neighbors played volleyball outside, some played corn hole, and others made slip ‘n slides. After a hard day of outdoor activities (or classes if you were so unlucky) it was nice to grill some food on the barbecue and eat together on the stoop.
While the extended community is great, it also can be mean. 2B has been the target of numerous crimes. We have had fire extinguishers set off in our house, syrup put on our banister, jelly thrown on our door, and we have been egged on multiple occasions. Just normal pranks? Try having to evacuate your home for 3 days while toxic fire extinguisher fumes are cleaned up. Not fun…
Despite all of this, I wouldn’t trade our messy, chaotic life in 2b for anywhere else on campus. We absolutely love living in the townhouse, even on the nights we miss the last cruiser home.