At a small school like Bucknell in the middle of nowhere, where your social life doesn't get kicked into high gear until you're a sophomore (looking at you, boys), your freshman dorm is a huge part of your day-to-day life and social scene. It's where you've met your first friends on campus, suffered through pointless hall meetings and learned the art of stealth when avoiding the RA on duty. Essentially, where you lived freshman year is a huge part of your Bucknell experience, and no two dorms are created equal. For whatever reason, the 5-6 dorms that host the freshmen each have their own unique personalities. Whether you're dying of heat exhaustion in Harris or getting locked out on that deck thing in Swartz, you'll learn your dorm's rep pretty quickly.
Disclaimer: I'm aware that the dorms listed are not all still freshmen dorms, but they have been in the past, and I hate to feel old, so let's just say this list includes freshmen dorms from the last five years.
McDonnell
You're used to a cushy lifestyle, and you'll mysteriously gain weight in the first few weeks because you've opted not to use the steps and use the elevator every day to get to the second floor. Either you're in a res college or you wound up on a res college floor, but you definitely notice a sort of cult mentality permeating the building. Coming into college, you expected a lot more people to play frisbee on the quad, and you're a little disappointed that this never happens. You know a lot of people in McDonnell but have no idea who lives on the rest of the campus.
Swartz
You're like McDonnell, isolated from everybody, uphill, but you're dorm is not nearly as nice and kind of confusing. Your friends in Vedder never want to pre-game in your dorm unless there is a register. When you tell people you live in "Swartz, Malcom 4" they don't understand what you mean. Since you're so far away from downtown, you mostly try to have parties in the triple at the end of the hall, but you inevitably fail because of that one RA on duty. Your hall probably had more points than the entire building of McDonnell combined, and you weirdly only meet the people who lived in your side of the building.
Vedder
For some reason, the half floors and weird shaped dorm rooms, mixed with the fact that upperclassman live here, creates massive anarchy in Vedder. Domino's has a carpool lane at the front door, and someone is always blasting the top 40s out of their three- (three-and-a-half-?) story window. You've taken at least two photos of yourself in front of the Vedder "penis" statue because, of course. You are funny. When visiting your friends on the other side of the building, you remember to try and look cool and chill when passing through the upperclassmen halls. There was always a lone box of pizza on the floor outside of that guy's room who you pre-gamed with at the beginning of the year.
Smith
You were in a res college. If you didn't start out that way, then the over-zealous mentality of the res college floor you lived on made you feel obligated to participate in their activities (don't worry, you liked it). On weekends, drunk people were always stumbling around the first floor, which was confusing because none of them lived there. Your RA was friendly, and so was your JA (and if someone can explain to me what that is, I'd be so grateful). Occasionally, you'd throw a massive pre-game in a big room on your hall, and you'd invite friends from all over campus. It was great, but you were constantly paranoid and kept hushing everyone and made sure everyone cleaned up before they left. You went on to become a great OA.
Harris
You bonded with your hall immediately because they were the only people who understood how "rustic" your living situation was. The first few weeks of school were a struggle because you couldn't sleep without sweating like you'd just run five miles. For whatever reason, every other hall in Harris was known as "that hall" freshman year, and your RA probably quit halfway through the year because she couldn't handle the pressure. You loved to hate Harris, but you'll never go back.
Lari Cottage
The Serbia of freshman dorms, no one really knew who you were or where you lived. "Isn't Larisson for upperclassmen? Are you on some kind of special hall?" You got close to your hall as a result of this isolation, and you can still recall the distinct smell of mothballs that greeted you every time you swiped into the building. You didn't have air conditioning either, so you were tired of hearing people in Harris complain about it.
As I only lived in one freshman dorm, my list is mostly hearsay, so make of it what you will. If you have a different experience, please help a sister out and comment below!
