My blog today is dedicated to a college struggle all freshmen have to face – laundry.
Yes, you’ve conquered the high school ten-page paper routine and survived the college application process relatively unscathed, but can you manage laundry? I thought I could.
As I quickly discovered within the first few weeks of school, your clothes aren’t going to magically clean themselves. And by that I mean your mom is no longer there to glean the floors of your room picking up all your dirty clothes, clean them, and have them appear neatly folded smelling freshly of Downy fabric softener after you return from school.
I assumed that laundry would be easy. To be honest I actually believed it might be fun. When I first got to school I had no interest in trying out this theory and put it off. Yet eventually the cruel realization that I was running out of clothes to wear hit me. So with a faint idea of what to do I ventured to the laundry room.
The first thing I learned is that a full laundry basket weighs a lot more than you would expect. The second thing I learned is that there is no attractive way to carry it. The unbalanced hobbling complemented by the struggle to maintain the “please-I-can-totally-carry-this” face is not pretty.
Once I managed to drag my hamper to the elevator with minimal confused stares from passersby and descended into the slightly creepy (on second thought not so slightly) Darnall basement, I arrived.
Laundry rooms at college are certainly not glamorous. I’m not entirely sure what I was expecting. But I at least assumed that most of the machines would be functioning. Third lesson: assume nothing.
So began my first laundry adventure, but I had so much more to learn. Like turning my jeans inside out so they won’t fade, discreetly hiding awkward undergarments, discovering that it’s socially unacceptable to show that I own a I <3 Draco t-shirt, not to panic when someone else’s sock ends up in your clothes, and knowing to look halfway decent because you never know who you’ll run into in the laundry room.
After successfully loading the washing machines and inputting the accurate amount of detergent (note – there are measurements on the inside of the cap to prevent sudsy overflow) I was feeling pretty good. That is until I tried to press the start button and nothing happened. Looks like my blonde hair caught up to me at that moment and prevented me from remembering my fourth lesson: laundry isn’t free at college. I know what you must be thinking. “Good grief this girl goes to Georgetown?”
As my sister likes to remind me oh-so-often I may be book-smart but I lack common sense. This might explain why after I realized this and smirking at my own stupidity took out my GoCard, I stared at the machine looking for a place to swipe it. Hint: You swipe your GoCard at the device conveniently located smack dab in the middle of the room. You can’t miss it. But apparently I did. Just FYI so you’re not standing there like I was with a furrowed brow exploring all the corners of the machine desperately looking for a place to pay. That aside I managed to survive the rest of the experience without any scars.
On another note, be prepared to encounter those obnoxious people who don’t clean the lint from their dryers or pick up their clothes after time is up. The moral dilemma over whether or not it’s your place to touch someone else’s clothes is troublesome the first time, but after a while I was done being nice. It’s simply common courtesy people!
Besides, I have other things to worry about in the laundry room. For example, frantically wondering if that cute guy folding his clothes just saw my bright pink bra tumble out of my machine. #embarrassing Or trying to remember if my shirt looked that small before I put it in the dryer. #unfortunate
So good luck. May your first laundry experiences be less painful than mine!
XOXO,
Hoya Saxa
Georgetown Freshman Survival Tip #2: Use Shout Color Catchers. These nifty little washing sheets make life SO much easier. You don’t have to bother separating darks, lights, and whites. (I have enough issues as it is!) Just pop one of these lifesavers in and you not only facilitate the laundry process, but also save money by cutting down on the number loads.
http://www.shoutitout.com/en-US/Products/Pages/shout-color-catcher.aspx