What New School student wouldn't like to live in 5th Avenue, right next to all the campus buildings? Kerrey Hall is the newest residence hall of The New School, located on floors 8 to 16 of our new University Center. Life in Kerrey Hall is pretty great for the 617 students that it houses, who come from all kinds of places and majors. But no matter how different we are from each other, there is a great chance we all might do these things:
1. Check out the RA chart in the lobby while you wait for the elevator.
Let's be honest: the elevators are not the most efficient thing in the Kerrey Hall building, but at least in the lobby you can use the wait to check if the hot RA you like is on duty today. Maybe your room card is suddenly not working anymore...
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2. Take an extra layer to the Student Lounge in L2.
It was great when the classes started and it was still hot. But now we're in the fall and winter is coming up and that place is still freezing cold. So if you're gonna be spending some time in the student lounge, mark my words -- and your mamma's -- remember to bring a coat.
3. Go to the dining center in pajamas. Or to CVS.
Kerrey Hall is connected to The New School's University Center, where the cafeteria is. It's so close to your room that, when the hunger strikes, why change? You're gonna be back in half an hour anyway. If you live in Kerrey Hall, chances are that the staff at CVS, as well as the crew in the cafeteria, are as used to your comfy clothes as your roommate.
4. Complain about having to swipe your ID to use the elevator.
Sometimes you have too much stuff in your hands. Sometimes you swipe it and the damn floor button doesn't work. Sometimes the elevator is too crowded for you to make your way to the swiping area. But the fact is, you just swiped your card to get inside the building. Why do we need to do it again?
5. Write on other residents' doors.
Whether you're the kind of person who writes lovely notes and doodles on your friend's door or you're the childish jerk who draws penises and mean things for people you don't even know, we have to agree that the possibility to get the doors and kitchen cabinets covered in ink is kind of awesome.
6. Refresh your New School email constantly to see if your package has arrived.
Amazon tells you your package was delivered, but you still did not get any emails from the package room. And you can't ask for it there without the damn email. It's one of the worst forms of torture.
Unless you didn't realize your package was small enough to fit the mailbox, and it's been there this whole time waiting for you (don't worry, I've been there, too).
7. Avoid the dye-stained dryer machine in the Laundry Room.
I have no clue whose idea it was, but a brilliant soul decided it would be cool to stain the dryer machine with purple dye (recently I saw a red dyed one too), maybe for a fashion class experiment? The thing is, if you use that machine, you're gonna regret it. Unless you think your clothes could use hundreds of purple spots.
8. Check the RA events for the words "free" and "food" right next to each other.
The lovely RAs are always coming up with events for us residents, but the chances are they are going to be twice as popular if there's food involved. Because there is nothing better to broke college students than a free snack.
9. Try to figure out the air conditioner/heat.
I swear, the A/C is freaky. The temperature range is limited, when you press OFF it boosts up the air flow as if it was mad to be put down. And whenever you open the door or when you least expect it, it turns on by itself. It feels like you're in a new "Paranormal Activity" movie.
10. Stare at people playing instruments inside the practice rooms.
Come on, they are lined up in the L2 hallway separated from the outside world by glass doors. What else are we supposed to do? It just takes too much effort not to stare and wonder what are they playing in that exact moment.
11. Do your best not to get a third lockout.
It doesn't matter what it takes: Stay at the student lounge, the UC, go to the movies, sit in the hallway until someone shows up, crash at your friend's room waiting for your roommate to get back from a family weekend. You are not paying $25 to get your door unlocked just because you made this mistake two times before. No. Way.
12. Love it.
All student residences have their pros and cons. Of course Kerrey Hall isn't perfect, but you could not ask for a better located place to live, with people who do their best to make your stay here memorable. No matter you who are, chances are you love being a Kerryan.
