I am freshman at UGA this year. For all of you who haven’t experience the wonders of this lifestyle being a freshman translates into living in the dorms. This means people, lots and lots of people all around all the time. Which can be a good thing or a bad thing.
Amazingly it is possible for four hundred people to live in one building harmoniously. Now I know that you are skeptical of this idea if you have lived for any time in a family consisting of more than one person (this means all of you), but it actually works out amazingly well. The few areas that seem to give the most difficulty are the communal places–i.e. the bathroom, laundry room, etc.
The bathroom is an interesting conundrum because it is a very intimate place to share with thirty people you don’t know. I mean, stuff happens in a bathroom. Like poop. Also, I have learned that it is impossible to brush your teeth and carry on your average run-of-the-mill conversation. It just can’t happen. In fact, when attempting to talk whilst brushing one’s teeth most of the words end up unintelligible. (it’s no wonder, as you have a brush and paste in your mouth.) This results in awkward silence while attempting not to look at your neighbor which is difficult because of the mirror which very accurately reflects them right into the side of your vision.
Showering is much more arduous then in a house. As any student who has lived in a dorm can tell you the three most difficult things about it are: getting out of bed in the morning (more on this later), being sick (this is an awful experience: avoid at all costs), and showering. Showering involves first the gathering of all your dang junk–towel, clothes, toiletries–then arriving at the bathroom only to realize (after soaking your socks in the puddles on the floor) that you forgot your shower shoes. This forgetting of certain items with which it is necessary to shower is a long standing tradition with me. I take it as almost a requirement to have to return to the room at least once before starting my shower. Also, I am learning to take Navy Showers. A Navy Shower means that you get in, get wet, then turn off the water for the lathering process. This is a way to “conserve water” the bywords of our great city (Athens) of late. I have been driven to such extremes by the doleful face of Walter the Water-droplet (who also stares at you while you brush your teeth) and the sad tale of how each of his alliterative relatives (Wendy, Wallace, William, etc.) have perished by excessive use of water. Poor, dear Walter. Don’t worry Walter, we’re with you. (He’ll like the alliteration in that). Ok, clearly this is getting out of hand.
One more point and I will wrap things up here. I simply cannot finish without mentioning the difficulties of getting out of (and into) bed. The difficulty here is caused not only by lack of sleep but also by the fact that my bed is lofted. As in, up in the freakin’ air. Also, I should mention here that I have very poor vision. Do these seem unrelated to you? think about it for a minute. I HAVE ALMOST DIED GETTING OUT OF THAT BED. Imagine getting up every morning, in the pitch black, freezing cold, etc., knowing that you had to make a life-endangering descent before you could even change out of your jammies. I recently watched the Lord of the Rings (the return of the king). There is one scene where Frodo and Sam and Gollum are climbing this almost vertical stair and they have stopped to sleep and they are sleeping basically on the side of a cliff where rolling over could mean certain death. I used to see that and think, how in the world do they fall asleep up there? Now I know.
Well, now that I have revealed my LOTR nerdom I think this post is complete. It’s time for me to go to bed.
Filed under: Uncategorized , bathrooms, college life, lofts, showering
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