Ducks @ Oregon - University of Oregon

Ten Things I Miss About the Dorms

Trafton B.

October 8, 2009 - 8:28 PM

I stumbled into my house after a long day of classes around 6:10pm to find two of my roommates and another friend lounging on our couches watching playoff baseball. They all looked equally as exhausted. I got enough energy to get the words, "What's for dinner?" out of my mouth; a fairly common thing for someone to mumble in our place. Nothing was said more than a few moans, and I could tell that we all had the same thought in our minds. Why couldn't food just appear on our plates for us to chow down on? Life was so good when we lived in the dorms and didn't have to prepare our own food. We would just have a hunger pang and then walk outside and eat. The only decision we had to make which way to turn out of our residence hall. Left meant Dux Bistro or Carson Dining. Right meant Hamilton.

These thoughts inspired me to remember all the great aspects of living in the dorms, especially the little things that I now take for granted after living in a house and fending for myself in the world. So, here it is, in no particular order:

Ten Things I Miss About the Dorms:

1. Meal Plans. I already alluded to it, but living on a meal plan is awesome. You don't have to cook your own food. And it's not that we're bad cooks, because we're not. We have perfected such college cuisine as Hot Dogs & Macaroni, Mexican Night and Chicken Stir Fry. Alfredo Mondays is a classic with our homemade Alfredo sauce. It's purely the simplicity of having meals ready on a dime. Not to mention the fact that they are great meals. I've eaten at some other colleges, and nothing compares to Fire n' Spice for a Mongolian noodle dinner followed up by a Cheesy Griller for a nightcap.

2. Meeting new people. I met so many fun people in the dorms. It was the basis of my friends for my entire college experience. We went to football games together. We ate dinner together. And now I'm living with some of them. It was especially nice considering that I really didn't know anybody entering my freshman year, aside from a few Facebook messages with my future roommate, which brings to my next point.

3. Roommates. Some of you may not agree with me on this point, and I understand, but having a roommate is really fun. Things can get a little testy after living in such close courters for an entire year, but I'm sort of bias because I hit the jackpot in the roommate lottery. We got along great, but even if you don't get along with your roommate, it's still a good learning experience. If nothing else, it will build character.

4. Campus Proximity. Residence halls at UO are strategically located on the eastern side of campus (unless you're living in Barnhart or Riley, in which case I advise you move onto the campus dorms or else this statement has no relevance), which is pretty much a six-minute walk from classes maximum. When you have an 8:30am International Studies class twice a week during winter term, you'll know what I'm talking about.

5. Friend Proximity. You are living within anywhere from forty to sixty other people, which means that you are most likely going to share a wall with your best friend, or heaven forbid you might be two flights of stairs away. Everyone in my residence hall moved into houses or apartments off campus after our freshman year, so we're spread out all over Eugene. It's nothing to complain about, but again, the winter rains make this troublesome.

6. Laundry. Machines were all in the basement lounge of the residence halls, and it was 75¢ for load in the washer and dryers were free. I didn't even think about this when I started, but I'm at the laundromat right now, and I just had to break a $10 bill because I need a few extra minutes to dry out my jeans. What the crap am I going to do with $9.25 in quarters! Heartbreaking.

7. Whammys! If anyone lived out there lives in the residence halls at Oregon, you know what I'm talking about. A whammy is Oregon's dorm food version of an ice cream sundae. Choose vanilla or chocolate and then two toppings, which can be Oreos, Butterfinger bits, Reeces' Peanut Butter cups, sprinkles and fudge, blueberry or strawberry syrup. And only for 3 points. Need I say more? I know I already had shouted out to the meal plan, but this deserves its own praise, believe me.

8. No bills. The bills for electricity, heating, cable and Internet are included in your residence hall contract, so in short you can turn your room into a sauna and not have to worry about humungous EWEB bills during the wintertime. That's something I took for granted until we got our own place.

9. Group Showers. That's right I said it. Now, don't get too excited, there most certainly were curtains in between us. But I really miss being able to hang out and talk about classes, Ducks football, girls or whatever while in the showers. This may have been one of those ‘you-had-to-be-there' experiences, but talking in the showers was completely normal for us guys on the first floor of McAlister. Same thing goes for the toilet stalls and brushing your teeth before bedtime.

10. Humpy-Lumpy Lawn. This is another memory specific to Oregon, but the lawn outside of the Hamilton, Bean and Walton housing complexes is known as Humpy-Lumpy Lawn. It's basically the backyard for all freshmen. I can't tell you how many games of ultimate Frisbee and wiffle-ball my hall mates and I played out there our freshman year. And that goes right back to the fact that all your best friend's live right next to you. I basically had to yell "Who wants to play some Frisbee?" down the hall and we would all be outside within the next five minutes.

There you have it, the best things about living the in residence halls at the University of Oregon. I know I miss it, and I hope I brought back some fond memories for you alumni reading, or even better, I hope I got some of you prospective students excited for next year. Either way, I just hope you understand that living in the dorms is almost too much fun.
Take care everybody and GO DUCKS!