Let me walk you through the past few weeks in my life. It’s been a doozy.
SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 1
I discovered four small bites on my elbow and texted my mom, who is notoriously paranoid about bed bugs. Surely, this couldn’t be bed bugs. In the 21st century? Please. Still, I knew that bites in a row were a characteristic bed bug thing and got a little bit worried.
SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 2
I woke up, and went “Hmm, what is that little black dot in this fold in my sheets?” I poked it, and I’m sorry to say it crawled to a bloody demise. I broke the news to my roommates and washed my bedding.
MONDAY, FEBRUARY 3
Fun fact, the inspector didn’t find any more bed bugs (besides the one I had slaughtered and left as proof that I wasn’t losing my marbles) but did find some nice spiderwebs under my bed! What did I ever do to deserve such a lively and biodiverse corner of the room? A blessing. Have I mentioned I live in Danielsen?
A few hours later, my least favorite email ever rolled into my inbox. We were scheduled for bed bug treatment that Wednesday, 9 a.m. sharp! ResLife provided us with vague instructions to pack all our worldly belongings into trash bags and put those bags into everyone’s favorite yellow move-in carts. That’s right, folks, we Tetris-d three of those things in our already kind of cramped triple.
I had a million questions for the ResLife people, who struggled to help me. I have to be honest; I felt like Boston University’s protocol about this situation was very lacking. Everyone I spoke to claimed to never have encountered bed bugs in Danielsen, which seems statistically impossible without people simply not reporting infestations. They also signed off their emails with “together,” which ticked me off.
TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 4
Packing. Crying. FaceTiming my mom for moral support.
WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 5
Another fun fact, the Danielsen ResLife office doesn’t actually open at 9 a.m. when it’s supposed to. A janitor walked by and was shocked to hear we had bed bugs. What did I say about ResLife’s communication skills? Nobody had told our neighbors, either. I hope they all appreciated my GroupMe message and don’t want to start any feuds. The bed bugs guy (who kind of looked like Captain America) arrived and praised our spotless room.
I’m going to be honest with you: the preparation sucked. Remember how I mentioned the three carts? Well, we also had to move all the furniture one foot away from the walls. That… is simply unfeasible. And I wasn’t thrilled that in taking my posters off the wall, I had a few small paint casualties. But Captain America was happy, so I was happy too.
At 6 p.m. we were allowed back into the room. I wiped down surfaces, opened windows, and started doing all the laundry in the world. That’s right, you have to wash all your textiles when you get bed bugs. What’s that? Yes, of course, BU refused to compensate us with convenience points. I washed my bedding for the second time in four days (a personal record). And, surprise surprise, the dryer decided that this would be a perfect time to go on strike! Maybe three dry cycles later, my bedding was sufficiently only slightly damp (it was also almost 1 a.m. which contributed to how done I was). My roommate unfortunately went to bed with very damp sheets and slept horribly.
“I slept with my jacket on because my bedsheets were drenched,” she reported.
What added insult to injury was how many times I got shocked when making my bed. I’m too electric for metal bed frames! Hopefully, any surviving bed bugs couldn’t handle the insane voltage.
Time for two pro tips so you don’t feel like this was a useless read! Number one: leave the majority of your stuff in bags in between treatments to avoid having to do all of this twice. Number two: you can also just put everything in the dryer on high heat to kill any possible bed bugs or eggs (but you should probably wash your bedding on high unless you’re really gross and also want to go through all of this strife again because you cut corners). You can also not dry things that you fear will be destroyed forever and pray to the bed bug gods. I had to do that with my leather jacket. I’m gonna risk it, BU.
TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 18
Two weeks passed (the typical bed bugs gestation period, apparently) and there was no sign of any more fun pests. Still, though, we had to endure another round of treatment, just in case. We packed up everything again, or at least everything that we had unpacked throughout the waiting period. ResLife decided to be extra confusing and told us that the treatment was actually the following week. We quickly debunked that one. I think ResLife doesn’t know what’s what.
WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 19
The ResLife office didn’t open on time again. Captain America rescued us. Theoretical bed bugs and their eggs were vanquished. I did so much laundry. I think we’re in the clear now. The moral of the story is that bed bugs suck and getting rid of them also sucks. Please be a good samaritan and report infestations so they don’t spread, I beg of you!
So, what did I learn from this lovely experience? First, BU is terrible with communication, protocol, and being nice to us poor students. Second, my professors were extremely understanding and gave extensions during that first week. Third, you get a lot of judgment when you tell people you have bed bugs, but they aren’t even spread by filth! It’s just rotten luck. Fourth, you also get a lot of pity when you post a picture of your packed-up room on your Instagram Story and a lot of confused responses when it’s the second treatment and people assume you have bed bugs for a second time. And fifth, I hope I never encounter another bed bug as long as I live.
What a time to remember!
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