Let’s rewind back to August. I moved in and was all settled in my room in Phelps hall. It wasn’t where I had originally planned to live, or who I had planned to live with, but I was determined to make my first semester away from home a good one – and it was!
As winter break approached, I got news that I would be able to move into an apartment towards the beginning of the spring semester. I couldn’t wait to move and get my own bedroom, a living area, and a washer and dryer in my room. Finally, on Friday, January 25th, after months of patiently waiting, I moved from my traditional dorm room in Phelps to my apartment in Courtyard. Now, I wasn’t on a waitlist or anything… my room just wasn’t ready yet because it needed to be renovated.
The first thing I did when I received my acceptance letter from Winthrop early in 2018 was figure out where I wanted to live. I looked at all of the residence halls on campus, and I decided that Courtyard seemed like the place for me. I emailed the Office of Accessibility right away to ask if there were any handicap-accessible rooms available in Courtyard. I informed them of what kind of accessible features I would need and they told me that rooms with those accommodations were available in Courtyard, so I just needed to find 3 roommates and I would be good to go! In the next few weeks, I found roommates and sent in my housing request. I was assigned an apartment, and everything was moving along smoothly, up til early August, a few weeks before move-in.
I was told that there were actually no rooms with the accessibility I needed in Courtyard, even though I was previously told otherwise.
So despite being an Honors student, an upperclassman, and months of communication with the accessibility office about my plan to live in Courtyard, I was told I would have to live in Phelps with a random roommate until they could renovate a room in Courtyard for me. Confused, angry, upset, and nervous, I reluctantly moved into Phelps on move-in day. My roommate ended up being a great friend, and it wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be, but when my apartment was finally completed, I was ecstatic.
Facilities workers, Dr. Burkhalter, and all of the contractors went above and beyond on the renovations. My room and bathroom are better than I imagined they would be, and the common area looks fantastic. Shortly after I moved in, 2 of my best friends moved in the apartment with me, and it is the greatest thing ever. I can’t thank everyone that made this renovation possible enough. Moving into Phelps with a random roommate was not in my plans for my first semester at Winthrop, but the wait turned out to be totally worth it. Plus, I made a new friend out of it!
The moral of my story is some things don’t turn out how you want them to be right away, but everything works out in the end, and it’s usually better than what you had in mind.
I don’t wish the frustration I had on anybody, but I hope all of you Collegiettes get to experience living with your best friends!