Living on Campus During COVID Pandemic

Looking back at senior year, I remember being so excited about decorating my dorm room and having roommates who I hoped I would become close with. The idea of living at school, feeling the freedom and being as independent as I can be away from home felt like a dream, and as of right now, still feels like a dream. I moved on campus at the start of the school year during Fall 2020. COVID-19 created an atmosphere full of fear and with that, extra caution from the university. Every single thing that I do on campus has somehow been modified to stay within COVID guidelines, as to slow the spread.

A lot of people have asked me, “Is it worth living in the dorms right now? You are losing that college experience because of COVID.” 

I have come to understand that my experience for my first year in college is drastically different than previous years, but to be honest, I am not torn up over it. 

One of the biggest pros of living on campus is that I get a room all to myself. The COVID guidelines made it so that only one person is occupying each room. Having grown up with many family members, it was nice to establish my own space and have it all to myself. With two other brothers and my mom all doing school and work from home, the amount of people at home everyday was a lot, and I just knew that I wouldn’t be able to focus with everyone in my family at home with me. Being at school made it feel more real to me that I was actually in college, and doing college from home would’ve caused bad habits to form as I now associate home with relaxation, not necessarily work. 

 ​Another pro comes from the minimal amount of people currently living on campus. While social interaction is important, having the campus so empty has been a nice experience for me. I like to take daily or weekly walks around campus, just to get out and get fresh air, and being able to walk wherever I want with no one else around has really allowed me to think about myself more.

Next, contrary to the last pro, is the people I’ve met on campus. I have been able to make good friends with people that live in the same building as me. At home, with zoom classes all day, the last thing you want to do is meet people over more zoom sessions. There is already the issue of no one turning on their cameras during class, let alone actually interacting with each other. So being able to come to campus and actually meet people in person (within COVID guidelines and social distancing) has been a great experience during this pandemic. 

We also get COVID tests often, twice a week to be exact. In order to live on campus, one must get two COVID tests every week to show you are following guidelines and don’t have COVID. Getting tests right now has become much more difficult as they are in such high demand, another issue being that the results come days later, when you may have already been exposed. Being at the school, we get COVID testing twice a week and the results usually come the day of or the day after you take the test. Having that access to these tests so often makes me feel much more comfortable and safe on campus. 

I know that this experience is far from normal, and I do wish this year had been like every other year, but making the best out of what is there has been my motto ever since the pandemic started. Living on campus has definitely been a good part of my current college experience, and I don’t regret my decision to move in despite the lack of normalcy this year has brought.

 

• college life
• dorming
• friends
• school
• studying