To the freshmen who will be living in my room next year,

When I first saw a similar article to this I thought it would be easy to write my own version. I spent my whole freshman year living in this 2-bedroom suite, with a common room and bathroom. The 11 by 9 box that I called my room was my home for the past eight and a half months. Yet I found myself struggling to put my words on paper, to type out my ideas into a cohesive article. What did I want to say that was so important? What do I want the people who will be taking over this room in August to know? What was so special about this room?

As I write this letter, with my earbuds secured in my ears and pandora blaring away, I look back on these eight months and realize that my room holds more importance than I had originally thought. Now don’t get me wrong, I’m currently counting down the days until I can go home to my real room, and sleep in a real, comfortable bed. But to be honest, it’s bittersweet. You don’t realize how quickly adapted you become to a space until you spend your time there. Soon after move in day, pictures of my friends and family from home covered the walls. Little accessories that were on my desk and dresser at home now covered my desk at school and clothes that once occupied my closets were now crammed into my wardrobe and dresser provided by the school. Little by little, it became my home away from home, my place to relax and unwind after a long day.

So where am I going with this? Well, here it goes. Soon enough I’ll be all packed up and moved out and you’ll be getting ready to take my place. You’ll be getting ready to start your next big adventure and move on to the pinnacle of your education: college. Dorm living is not glamorous, that’s for sure. But it’s part of the experience and trust me, everyone needs to go through it. With that being said, here are some tips for how to conquer living in suite 264.

Your room will be small. Whether you’re on side A with the bathroom (that room is probably the size of a closet, so I’m sorry) or my side, side B (not as small as a closet but still pretty small) the size definitely does not compare to what you were used to back home. As hard as it may be, try to limit the things you bring back with you every time you come back from break because before you know it it’ll be May and you’ll be worrying about how you are going to pack everything to bring home for the summer (trust me, I speak with experience on this one). BUT, you do have the common room to store some of your things as well, which I have to say is pretty nice.

There’s some weird ribbons or streamers stuck between the tiles on the ceiling in the common room but don’t worry about them, I don’t think they’re coming off anytime soon.

Also, there was a rumor my friends and I heard that people would hide moonshine in the ceiling but don’t worry about that either because there is none (it sounds ridiculous but we checked).

To open and shut the windows you have to lean against them with all your body strength because lucky for you, you get to live in one of the oldest buildings on campus with almost-as-old windows.

The bathroom closet only has one shelf so try and store everything that needs to be on the shelf on it, and keep the rest of your things on the floor.

When taking a shower, there will almost always be that one person who has to flush the toilet to mess with the water pressure.

Bring a shelving unit or something to keep your and your roommate's things on for the shower so you don’t have to keep shampoo bottles and razors on the floor.

Don’t be afraid to decorate the bathroom! Bring a cool, patterned shower curtain to brighten up the area.

No matter where you are in the room, the walls and ceilings are paper thin so 9 times out of 10 you’ll probably hear someone from next store or above you talking or listening to music or just making noise.

The door to leave the room ALWAYS gets stuck when it’s hot and humid outside so you might have to hit it with your hip before it can be opened.

Make the common room inviting for people to come and hang out, or just leave your door open so people can say hi as they walk by.

And probably the most important piece of advice I can give is… this place is your home. Make it comfortable for yourself. Sure it may not look or feel like your real home, but truly cherish your time spent here. Remember the times you spent laying in bed binge-watching netflix, or getting ready to go out with friends, or spending the night in, or making microwave food concoctions. It goes by fast so make sure to enjoy it and take it all in.

With that being said I leave you to now make this room your own. And who knows, maybe next year at this time you’ll be writing your own letter.