The year I moved into my freshman dorm, Woodland Glen III, a tour was broadcasted on the local news. The video clip showed the separate bedrooms within the room. The bathroom only had to be shared with one other person— shower shoes not required. We even had separate sinks and a marble countertop that I used to chop up veggies before cooking them in the third-floor kitchen.

At the time, I really loved it. I even preferred UK over other schools because of the extravagant dorm life. But today, I am here to tell you that none of it was necessary.

No matter how good the quality of the cafeteria food, people complain about it. We have ever since starting school as 5-year-olds. The green beans are too runny, the pizza is too greasy or not greasy enough, the French fries are soggy.

Even though we complain and have complained, is it not weirdly nostalgic to look back on now? 

Bad cafeteria food has turned into a sort of right-of-passage for public school kids. I know because I brought my lunch every day starting in second grade, and I cannot relate. Now when people offer their dorm life horror stories, I am still outside of the loop.

As an incoming freshman, I was beyond excited to get to know my roommate.  We did that thing that a lot of incoming freshman do the first few days after coming to college: We went to each and every K week event together. We even shared lipstick and chocolate and stories about our hometowns. But once school started, that all fell apart because once we got busy we were spending our time on our comfortable Temperpedic beds instead of at the awkwardly high bar stools and tiny table in our common room. 

Georgetown College has maybe some of the oldest and worst dorm rooms, but when I have visited, everyone seems to hang out together. They brought in sofas and decorated their cement block walls with posters and canvases they painted themselves instead of buying at Bed, Bath, & Beyond. They put much more effort into making their rooms feel cozy than I ever bothered with my dorm room that was supposed to already come packaged with all the comfort of home. 

So perhaps, just like there is with crappy cafeteria food, there is something to be said in terms of crappy dorm life. Maybe the cement walls and canvases plastered everywhere isn’t all that crappy after all.