Thereâs nothing like opening your dorm assignment and immediately facing the disappointment of being assigned to the âworst dormâ on campus.
Over the course of my time at FSU, Iâve heard time and time again that my beloved dorm, Salley Hall, would be torn down. Whether Iâll be having an in memoriam or warning the future generations, Iâm not sure. Salley Hall will always hold a tiny, special part of my heart.
Living in a shoe box wasnât on my college vision board, but maybe that was the first test of my âadultâ problem-solving. Making that dorm, with exposed piping and dingy carpet, feel like home was doable. Even if it seemed desolate at the time.
Salleyâs reputation
The reputation of Salley Hall wasnât comforting, especially to a freshman who was romanticizing college. When I heard that I was assigned Salley, I felt like I would never get that idyllic college experience, and honestly, I didnât. It wasnât exactly what I pictured for my college dorm, but so is life.
Salleyâs reputation has heard glimmers of mold, consistently broken elevators, and shower heads that I was taller than. Location-wise, it feels like Salley is on its very own island. Itâs far from all of the main campus and most of the traditional freshman hangout spots. Meaning, unless youâre a frequenter of the biology or psychology buildings, then youâre out of luck.
When you live far from everything, you learn to use every resource the campus has available. I became a frequent user of the campus bus system, needing to make it to my 9:20 a.m. class across campus. Luckily, thereâs a dining hall next door, even if itâs not Suwannee, thatâs just as good and usually not crowded. Given that Salley is basically alone in its little universe.
The only other piece of Salley I still experience every once in a while is the reaction you get when you tell people where you live or lived. My answer is met with sympathetic âoohâsâ and âaahsâ and questions on how I managed, but Salley, truly, wasnât that bad.
My experience
Even though I still tell scary stories of my time in Sally Hall, it would be mean to my dear dorm to blame everything on the dorm itself. All freshmen have roommate stories, and all freshmen have qualms with the dorms. I truly donât think my experience would have been significantly better in a different dorm.
Pieces of college that people reflect on are the silly stories that may not have seemed silly at the time. I love getting to regale all the underclassmen I know with the stories of my time in Salley. Thereâs also so much more to look forward to as a freshman, not including your dorm room.
Looking at all the things I remember feeling âinconveniencedâ by when I lived in Sally, it really wasnât that big of a deal. I feel like I got to know more of the campus I wouldâve never gotten to experience. Being an English major means I never go on the STEM side of campus, where Salley is. Iâve had the opportunity to explore all of the beautiful FSU campus and enjoy every part of it.
Dorm life is a very âcollegeâ part of college and is an experience I only needed to have for a year. For any freshmen who are dreading being assigned to Salley Hall, try to look on the bright side. Even if itâs not fun in the moment, the memories are what people live in dorms for.
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