I won’t lie. The moment I saw you, I was very worried. You were way too small, pale, and lifeless. Dorm room, this is a letter for you.

When I first received my key to unlock your door, I had a mixture of nervousness and excitement. I was ready to finally have a room of my own at my university. My own room where I could set five alarms and still not wake up, vacuum at 3 a.m., and leave my trash wherever I wanted sans judgment.

Thank you, dorm room, for being a haven for me after a rough day. When I forgot to submit my essay before the deadline, I was able to come to you and cry in the corner without anyone seeing me. I was able to slam my door and kick the bed frame when I got unnecessarily angry about a mistake I had made.

Thank you for letting me somehow hang my pictures and Christmas lights on the walls that had been there forever. It couldn’t have been easy. Your paint was already chipping in some places, and there were scratches everywhere. But you allowed me to hang my pictures and canvases on my wall to make it feel a little bit more like home. I placed Christmas lights around your border, which got rid of your harsh overhead fluorescents. I still don’t understand how your old walls held the hooks for 10 months after the lights were tugged on and knocked down, but you did.

Thank you for never being the perfect temperature. Your lack of control over the AC forced me to spend time with the other people in the common room. I would not have built the close friendships, if you had been warm in the winter and cool in the summer. I built my friendships by complaining about you.

Thank you for the ugly brownish red carpet that managed to hide every stain. I spilled soda on your floor countless times, but my RA had no clue. Your carpet simply absorbed it, and made it part of the fabric. Thank you for absorbing every Polynesian sauce and Chick-fil-A sauce dropped on your hallow ground. You got a little sticky, but it eventually went away.

Speaking of, thanks for not smelling bad when I never threw my trash out. Taco Bell, Bdubs, and Chick-fil-A are just a few of the fast food trash items that were lucky enough to call a corner of your their home. Science experiments could have been conducted in that corner, so thank you for not retaining any disgusting smell.

Thank you for being so small. Whenever people visited, you basically forced us to invade the other’s personal space. Normally, I would hate this. But you allowed 10 of us to somehow how fit. We watched tv and laughed our heads off. It was definitely a cramped space, but it only added to the experience.

Dorm room, thank you for making my another year of college a great time to remember. Without you, I wouldn’t have some of my greatest memories.