Going from living on a sorority floor at Penn State to living at home for the summer is a huge transition. At Penn State, we don’t have sorority houses. Some may say that because of this we’re missing out on getting to live with our sisters, but this is far from true. Instead of living in houses, Penn State recently built and renovated brand new dorms in the South section of campus that are dedicated entirely to sororities.
Each floor is designated to a sorority, complete with single bathrooms (hallelujah for no more communal showers), gorgeous new rooms, furniture that looks more like a hotel than a dorm room, and a common living area called a “suite” where we have a full kitchen, fridge, freezer, dining area, living area, tables, couches and a TV.
In the summer, you go from living with 30 or so of your best friends to living alone and that in and of itself is a depressing experience. It’s the last week in July and we’re all starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel of our internships and summer jobs. In less than a month we will all be reunited in the happiest of valleys with the best people we know. With this comes the excitement of moving back onto the floor and the following things that are just a few of the many reasons that make living on the floor something we’ve missed so much.
1. The Suite
The suite truly is the best part of the floor. It’s where we go after a night in fratland to talk about our nights and eat pokey stix. It’s where we eat our dinners during the week and vent. It’s where we have movie nights when we just don’t feel like doing anything else. The suite is where all the best bonding truly happens.
2. The Closets
One of the best parts about living on the floor is that you are living with 34 of your friends, which means 34 closets to choose from. Almost every weekend I find myself searching through my own closet and ultimately deciding that I have “nothing to wear”. But instead of calling it quits and refusing to go out, all I have to do is pop into anyone’s room and ask for an outfit and next thing I know, I have ten options in front of me. Boom.
3. The Noise
For me, living directly across from the suite, the moments of quiet time are definitely much more difficult to come by than the loud ones. Whether girls are coming home at the end of a long school day and venting, yelling down the hallway to see who has that black romper you absolutely need to wear tonight because you’ll be seeing ____ at our social with ______, or coming home after a night at the frats, there tends to be a lot of screaming, laughing and all around chaos. But who would expect less from 35 girls?
4. The Food
I couldn’t leave food off the list. Not only do we have a stove for cooking our own meals, we have an oven for baking our own desserts. There’s almost never a night that someone’s not ordering food. If you’re feeling hungry and you can’t decide what to eat, pop into the suite. There’s bound to be some leftover pizza or some cupcakes.
5. Your Friends
Living on the floor means you’re never alone. Your friends are always a few steps away for whatever you need. Being from out-of-state, it’s definitely a transition going from being a door away from my best friends to hundreds of miles away.
5. Your Second Home
Living on a sorority floor truly gives you a home away from home. You always have someone to hang out with, someone to talk to, someone to go to the gym with you, someone to get fro-yo with. Living on the floor has made me closer with so many girls in my sorority and has truly solidified my love for Penn State and my sorority.
