Dorm Room Woes

Hello everyone,

I’m Becca; I will be taking over for Heidi as this year’s student blogger, since Heidi is no longer fresh meat. Congrats on that Heidi!

It is a gray and rainy day in my hometown of Norman, Oklahoma, and I am still drying from my very wet bike ride. It had just finished raining when I left, so I figured I should have at least half an hour before the next downpour. I was wrong. See, I never check the weather. I just don’t care if I get wet, or a bit cold…though on days like today, when the Weather Gods seem to be trying to make up for three months of drought in one morning, this philosophy can get me into trouble.

I plan to spend my rainy afternoon cloistered inside, trying to figure out just how much I can cram into my teeny-tiny dorm room. I am one of those people who like lists, and true to form I am working on a list of what to bring (this list actually translates into piles on my floor, so I can no longer get into my room). Thus far, I have:

• Essentials:
o Yoga mat
o Rock climbing gear
o Clothing
o Coats
o Shoes
o Hiking Boots
o Bedding
o MacBook, Ipod, Wii
o Shower shoes
o Toiletries
o Fist Aid kit
o Paper, pens, stapler, etc.
o Important documents and financial records
o My camera
o Commuter Bike
o Boxed food
o My chocolate stash

• Other stuff that would be nice to have
o Photography books, a few favorite novels, all the books I am half-way through and think I might actually finish
o Photos of friend, family, and my puppy dog.
o A poster of Mount Everest (it is one of my life’s goals to climb the summit)
o Camping gear
o Mountain Bike
o A plant


I am still very lost about what to bring. They have this nice list on the CU site about what not to bring (curtains, most appliances, pets, parents, etc.) but their list of what to bring was depressingly short. Meanwhile, I have been facebooking my roommate and she is trying to determine if she can bring her backpacking gear, her skis, and her snowboard, while I am trying to find a place to store my second bike.

In an attempt to answer both our questions, I went out and bought this book I have heard about, The Naked Roommate, hoping that it could give me some guidance. So far, I am 113 pages in, and it has given me good advice about how to deal with the klepto roommate, the smelly roommate, the roommate you hate, the roommate that comes with her boyfriend attached, the drunken roommate, and of course, the naked roommate. Though I have talked to my roommate, and she seems really cool, this book totally has me convinced that everyone in college is doomed to live with a neurotic, thieving, smelly, puking crazy person. To top it all off, I still have no idea what to fill our new prison cell with!

I guess I am just going to have to keep floundering around until I figure it out. Maybe this is a good example of what college will be like—you have no idea about what you are doing, but you just keep stumbling around, acting like everything is under control, until everything works itself out. The Naked Roommate did tell me to ask for advice when I am lost, so does anyone have any advice?