I could not have been more excited to come back to Kenyon after summer break to start my sophomore year. As the first few weeks of the semester have gone by, however, I have started to notice some Kenyon aggravations that I may have forgotten about over the summer. Read on for my opinion, but just remember that, while these aspects of Kenyon life are fun to complain about, it does not mean that I take all of the other amazing parts of Kenyon for granted!
1. Facing dining room closings in Peirce. Sometimes, Kenyon alumni, Board of Trustees members, or various other important people visit campus. Nine times out of ten, these visitors eat a specially made meal in our dining hall, resulting in the closing of Thomas (aka New Side) and/or Alumni (aka lower Peirce) dining rooms. The entire Kenyon student body definitely cannot squeeze into the Great Hall during mealtimes, which requires those of us who don’t normally sit there to find more creative places to eat.
2. Living on the opposite side of campus as your friends. Freshmen, take note: after this year, you will have to walk more than just three feet down the hall or (at worst) across Chase and Gaskin Avenues to see your friends. Upper-class students are all completely spread out across campus; it often involves a 15-minute walk down Middle Path to hang out at friends’ dorms and apartments. Compared to larger universities, this may seem like a walk in the park (no pun intended), but after being spoiled by freshman year dorm arrangements, the adjustment of living either completely south or completely north can be a bit irritating.
3. People talking on the third floor of the library. This may annoy me more than other people. I need absolute silence in order to concentrate, and third-floor Olin is one of the only places on campus that is specifically intended for silent study. To me, talkers have no excuse to be disruptive on the third floor. Come on, all you have to do is walk down a flight of stairs to the second and first floors of Olin! There, noise is completely acceptable and sometimes even welcomed by those who need sound to study.
4. Seeing everyone you know at Old Kenyon. Kenyon is a very small place with relatively few places to go on the weekends. As a result, seemingly every person you have ever come in contact with at Kenyon will make an appearance at the more popular hangout spots. At any given Old Kenyon party, you will have at awkward encounters with your freshman year CA and UCC, your Spanish AT, that annoying kid from your art history class, and every person you worked with in a group project for English last semester. This may or may not be an exaggeration.
5. All-Stus. This one requires no further explanation.
Kenyon is an awesome place, but no awesome place is without its fair share of irritations. Let’s just be glad that I can only rattle off five Kenyon-based annoyances. We do love our school!