Calling all freshmen: appreciate and cherish your time in the dorms, because you are going to miss it the minute you move out. Going into my second year, I was excited to live in an apartment with my best friend. There are no RAs waiting to write you up or any quiet hours to obey. You truly don’t experience freedom until you live in an apartment. Unfortunately, this freedom will come with responsibilities you never had to face while living in the dorms.
1. Cooking your own meals
You will probably get tired of the dining commons after three weeks into college, but you will miss it a week after you start cooking on your known. The DC was so convenient because you didn’t have to go shopping for the food and think about what you were going to eat next meal after meal. Once you are on your own, you will realize that grocery shopping and cooking can take up a lot of your time.
2. Cleaning
After cooking your meals, you will realize that you will have to wash your dishes. Although washing dishes does take as long as cooking, there are a lot of other things you could be doing instead of doing them. You could be watching a quick episode of a Netflix show or cramming for your midterm. Not to mention, you will also have to clean your own bathroom…
3. Paying bills
You paid everything at once when you lived in the dorm and didn’t have to worry about it after. When you move out of the dorm, you will most likely get multiple bills every month for rent, internet/cable, and energy. After getting these bills, you will begin to realize how expensive everything is and wish you were a little kid again living rent-free.
4. Not living on campus
You can no longer wake up and get ready 10 minutes before class because your apartment will be much further away from your classes than your dorm last year. This forces you to plan ahead and figure out how early you have leave your apartment to get to class on time.
5. Finding parking or taking the bus
Not living on campus will mean that you will either spend a lot of time finding parking for your car or waiting for the bus. College parking is no joke. It’s like trying to find parking at a mall on Black Friday. You will not believe that you spent money on a parking pass to realize that it will not guarantee you a spot.
6. Not having all of your friends live just a few doors away
While you may be living with your besties, you won’t be living in the same building complex as the people you shared a hall with last year. You can no longer walk a few doors down and invite a friend to grab a bite to eat because a lot of these people have parted ways. It will be hard at first, but you can always hit them up on Facebook to stay in touch.
There are pros and cons to leaving the dorms, so be sure to enjoy on-campus housing while you can, first years!