Most people know what a college dorm consists of: a really small space in which you have at least one roommate. At Longwood, you’re actually required to live in a dormitory your first year. As to why this rule exists, I couldn’t tell you, but living in a dorm is definitely a unique experience that everyone should have (maybe that’s one reason behind the rule).
Living in a dormitory is unlike any other living situation you’ve most likely had. Some dorms are coed (meaning guys and girls are on the same hall; my dorm is like this) or some are strictly for boys or girls. As I just mentioned, my dorm is coed, and I was very unsure about how I would adjust.
In movies and in TV shows, living in a college dorm looks super fun all of the time. However, I was really scared to live in a dorm. I actually thought about how I was going to get used to living with a roommate and sharing a bathroom with suitemates more so than the difficultly of my classes!
This fear most likely stems from my being an only child. Throughout my whole life—up until going to college—I always had my own bedroom, bathroom and space to myself. So the thought of always having to share my space and always be considering other people’s class schedules (for the bathroom) was a really scary thought to me.
On the bright side, you’ll be happy to know it’s not as bad as I thought it would be.
When sharing a small space with someone else, it helps if you can get along. Luckily for me, my roommate and I get along very well. My suitemates and my roommate and I get along pretty well also. So if you luck out and get a decent roommate and suitemates (or request to live with someone when choosing housing), then that makes everything else run more smoothly.
As you can see from the photos, the dorms are small, probably even smaller than you think, so getting along with your roommate is key. That being said, one big tip about housing that I remembered from Orientation was that you don’t need to be BFFs with your roommate. As long as you can both respect each other, that’s really all that matters.
It’s something to remember when you’re trying to adjust to living in a shoebox with a complete stranger.
Living in a dorm can be a little challenging sometimes, I’m not going to lie.
Always having to consider others and not really having that much time to yourself can be hard to get used to, but, trust me, you’ll get used to it more easily than you would think. Take it from someone who grew up always having her own space and didn’t even want to go to sleep-away camps because I didn’t want to live with other people!
Just be open-minded, work out a bathroom schedule and find a place of your own to escape to sometimes when you want some privacy and you’ll be fine.
