Her Campus Logo Her Campus Logo

27 Things You Get Used To When Living In A College Dorm

Aisha Maharani Student Contributor, Pennsylvania State University
Her Campus Placeholder Avatar
Rachael David Student Contributor, Pennsylvania State University
This article is written by a student writer from the Her Campus at PSU chapter and does not reflect the views of Her Campus.

For some people, living in a dorm is an experience that they can avoid. However, for the general populace, we all have to suffer through at least a year of dorm living. All those horror stories you hear from older friends or older siblings aren’t all true. Here are some of the good and bad things we all start to get used to while living in a residence hall.

Ā 

1. Having a roommate

Ā 

2. Walking to the bathroom in your towel and shower caddy

Ā 

3. Waiting in line to use the bathroom or shower

Ā 

4. Hearing the hand dryer in the bathroom go off at 3 a.m.

Ā 

5. Hearing a mashup of different types of music all over your floor

Ā 

6. Being extra careful not to wake up your roommate when you’re getting ready for morning classes

Ā 

7. Being extra careful not to wake up your roommate when you want to use the bathroom at 3 a.m.

Ā 

8. Having a stash of food in your room because you’re too lazy to walk to the commons

Ā 

9. Having so much stuff in your dorm that you could basically survive a zombie apocalypse

Ā 

10. Being able to hear snippets of your neighbors’ conversations through the paper-thin walls

Ā 

11. Being able to find someone else to procrastinate homework with

Ā 

12. Having latenight movie sessions because you’re too lazy to go to a party

Ā 

13. Always having someone (from your floor) to go to a party with

Ā 

14. Being able to ask around the floor for food, ice or medicine you don’t have

Ā 

15. Constantly going to someone else’s room because it’s more comfortable than yours

Ā 

16. Constantly going to someone else’s room because they have a better TV than you do

Ā 

17. Constantly going to someone else’s room because they have a Netflix account

18. Having someone constantly come to your room because you have everything a person could possibly need

Ā 

19. Saying ā€˜hi’ to at least one person whenever you’re waiting for the elevator

Ā 

20. Hearing singing and gossip from the shower stalls in the bathroom

Ā 

21. Stocking up on cartons of bottled water because you don’t like unfiltered water

Ā 

22. Feeling weird asking your roommate for permission to invite friends over

Ā 

23. Feeling weird when your roommate brings someone you don’t know to your room

Ā 

24. Getting off the elevator on your floor after classes and instantly knowing who else is on the floor based on the music or loud voices

Ā 

25. Being woken up in the morning by people who are in the hallway

Ā 

26. Always going to breakfast in the commons with at least two other people on your floor

Ā 

27. Being used to the loudness in the hallways on gamedays

Ā 

In the end, always remember there is always a silver lining to a supposedly ā€œbadā€ situation! Stay safe, and have fun collegiettes!

Aisha is currently a senior at Penn State University, studying Telecommunications in the Donald P. Bellisario College of Communications. She is a contributing writer and Campus CorrespondentĀ for Her Campus Penn State and her hobbies are reading, listening to music, and watching hockey. Originally hailing from Jakarta, Indonesia, her dream for the future is to someday be part of the book publishing industry, digital marketingĀ or work on a media team for a sports team.Ā 
Rachael David is currently a senior at Penn State University and serves as the Campus Correspondent for Her Campus Penn State. She is majoring in public relations and minoring in psychology. Her love of creative writing and all things Penn State is what inspired her to become a member of the HC team in the fall of 2013. Her background experience includes working for the Undergraduate Admissions Office at Penn State as a social media intern in the spring of 2014 and is currently working as a social media intern for an internet marketing company in Harrisburg called WebpageFX. This past summer she also served as a PR intern for Tierney Communications. Rachael enjoys anything media related especially catching up on her favorite shows, including Saturday Night Live and any show on Food Network. She has a passion for food but also loves being active and spending her free time running or hiking. She hopes to gain more experience in all aspects of the media industry during college and plans on pursuing a career writing for a life & style publication in the future.