As you might have already noticed from the already border-line annoying amount of times I reference it in my blog posts, I live in Darnall. After hearing rumors about the “Dirty D” over the summer, I never entertained the thought that out of all four freshman dorms I would actually end up there. And yet, here we are. Honestly, everything has worked out great and I’ve developed a strong Darnall pride. Except for lack of convenience, I honestly think it’s best freshman dorm.
In fact, if you can believe it, I’m sad to realize that I only have a few more months left here. But this is counterbalanced by the excitement of today when my friends and I selected to live in a Henle next year! However, this was not exactly a smooth sailing process. Housing is a really complicated and stressful process.
First you have to decide whether you’re keeping your current roommate. Luckily that was not an issue for me, but having that conversation is the first step even though it may be awkward. If your not keeping the same roommate then you have to find one. Next you decide if you want to go in with a group of four for an apartment, which can get tricky. Housing can become such a sensitive issue. Nobody’s feelings want to get hurt, you don’t want to leave people out, and it’s hard to make everyone happy. Yet, unless you want to end up alone, you can’t avoid this forever. In fact, better to figure it out early.
Once you have that set you get to the even more annoying process of attending lectures to understand the housing system of lottery numbers, selection times, etc. First is the lottery number. This you have absolutely no control over. Thankfully my friends and I were blessed by the housing gods with a great lottery number – 14. But as many of my other friends experienced, it can be frustrating to get a bad number when there’s nothing you can do about it. And finally, selection day arrives. Let me just share with you the experience so you can understand how hellishly stressful it is.
5:30 We log on to the housing site and discover the list of remaining Henle apartments available.
5:48 Continue to scramble to determine our top 10 and the likelihood of certain apartments being taken.
6:00 The selection process begins and my stomach does a flip flop as I see our top choice disappear. At this point we’re all breathing down each other’s necks to stare anxiously at a single computer screen.
6:06 T-minus 7 more minutes until our selection time and by this point I’m sweating. Our top choices are already gone and we’re on the 2nd tier.
6:12 Tension in the room hits the ceiling as we all stare at the clock ticking down. Longest. Minute. Of. My. Life
6:13 Our moment. Rapid clicking commences.
6:14 High-pitched squeals of excitement fill the room as the confirmation page shows us we successfully chose a new home.
Done. They certainly don’t make the housing process easy. This all required serious planning and staking out of floor plans etc. All in all it worked out and we got through it unscathed. And hey, if it didn’t work out the way you wanted it to this year, remember you’ve always got next year! Good luck Hoyas!
XOXO,
Hoya Saxa
Georgetown Freshman Survival Tip #8: Strategize. You can never be over prepared so make sure to scope out the rooms you’re interested in.
Photo Credit:
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