The Good Life

 

ne of the best things about freshman year is living on campus, according to several University of Mississippi students who know what they’re talking about. They just completed their freshman years living in Guess, Kincannon and Crosby halls.

It’s not that the physical accommodations themselves in the residence halls are so great (except maybe for someone who’s been sharing a room with two or three younger brothers or sisters). It’s that living with a diverse group of people who are all going through the same thing gets college off to the right start. It’s an experience that just can’t be duplicated, Ole Miss students say.

“I think everybody needs to live in a dorm to appreciate campus,” said Madison Warne, a nursing major from Dyersburg, Tenn. “You meet people you’ll be friends with after you’re through with college.”

Connecting easily with new friends seems to be one of the most important advantages of living in a residence hall.

“A lot of my friends, I met in this dorm,” said Joshua Hulitt, a pharmacy major from Clinton, Miss. “It’s a networking tool.”

Caroline Fink of Zionsville, Ind., agreed. “Every hour someone new is knocking on our door. Our floor is really close-knit. We can all talk to each other. Everyone is so different, and yet we always have a good time together.

“My advice to new freshmen is don’t be afraid to meet people. They’re just as scared as you are,” said the elementary education major.

Zenija Hauck’s thinking is along the same lines. The anthropology major from Weston, Fla., said the best thing about living in a residence hall is that “you get to make a lot of friends … and you don’t have to drive over to their house to see them.”

Her roommate, Rachael Jones, said the hall is “like a little family. We go places, go out, go shopping, take road trips.”

Jones said off-campus distractions are one reason living on campus is such a good idea for freshmen. “Here on campus everything is accessible, and it’s easy to get things done,” said the pharmacy major from Memphis.

Hulitt agrees that living in the residence hall makes it easier to focus on the academic side of college.

“It takes a minute to realize you don’t have to do everything, go to every party,” he said.

Hulitt’s roommate, Stephen Bailey, has also learned that life lesson.

“You have to know when to say when,” said the marketing communications major from Clinton, Miss.

It’s no coincidence that Hulitt and Bailey are both from Clinton. They were friends in high school and decided to room together at Ole Miss. They apparently are the exception to the rule about not rooming with a friend from home. Despite a few squabbles over the window blinds, who’s better at video football and how much Febreze gets sprayed in the room, they’re still friends after a year of rooming together.

“Living here really shows you how to get along with somebody who doesn’t view things the way you do,” said Hulitt.

Warne, however, could be the poster child for not rooming with your best friend from home.

She said she and her first roommate “were together all the time in the dorm and outside the dorm. We just got sick of each other. Everybody said don’t live with your best friend. I wish I had listened,” she said.

Fink and Warne moved in together at the beginning of the spring semester, and they’re both happy with the way things worked out.

“We can tell each other anything, and we give each other advice,” said Fink. “And it’s not like we’re in here 24/7 walking all over each other.”

Although residence hall rooms are probably smaller than some students’ bedrooms at home, usually must be shared with a roommate and have communal bathrooms, the adjustment doesn’t seem to be that big a deal.

“I’m an only child and always wanted siblings growing up. It wasn’t too bad of an adjustment to share a room,” said Warne.

Fink adds that using your head is critical when it comes to living in a residence hall.

“You have to be creative about how you store your stuff,” she said, “but I liked being able to decorate the room. My mom and I worked on it together.”