What is your happy place on campus?
Leslie An ’21: My dorm room.
Lauren Budd ’18: Outside? The river. Truthfully? My room. Shamefully? Certain basements.
Christopher Cartwright ’21: Pine Park. It’s such a beautiful area and so fun to explore while running.
Annette Denekas ’18: Is it sad that the first word that immediately came to mind was “Starbucks”? Other than that though, I loving sitting on Robo’s front balcony (usually when avoiding the work awaiting inside).
Charlotte Driscoll ’21: My bed, for sure.
Zachary Gorman ’21: The basement of my dorm building, in a small waiting room adjoining the laundry room. It’s the best place to study or hide without going outside.
Maria Harrast ’21: Any bench on the Green. Or the Foco cookie line.
May Mansour ’18: It alternates between Sanborn and the golf course depending on the season.
Eliza Jane Schaeffer ’20: Sanborn. It feels like a living room. I go there for all of my stressful studying.
Kylee Sibilia ’20: Fairchild!
Is there life on other planets?
An: Yes, because there’s just so much out there. We are one spot in an imperceptibly vast place. There’s gotta be more.
Budd: Definitely. Statistically, there must be. But it’s probably something disappointing like bacteria.
Cartwright: Of course! Have you seen “The X-Files”?! Really though, the universe is so big that it would be more surprising if we were the only living creatures in the whole universe.
Denekas: Yes, for sure. I love having existential discussions with other people.
Driscoll: Yes, there just has to be.
Gorman: Yes. The universe it too big for there not to be. Sadly, we will never see them because their primary concern is to get as far from humanity as possible.
Harrast: Yes! A NASA telescope found 10 Earth-like planets that have the potential to sustain life.
Mansour: My eighth grade science class once posed this question to our teacher and he responded, “Yeah, there’s life. Not like a donkey on Mars, but bacteria, sure.” Still pulling for the donkey in all honesty.
Schaeffer: If the universe is infinite, then statistically speaking, there must be life on other planets. But the idea of infinite is freaky, so I prefer not think about that.
Sibilia: Definitely because the universe is way too big for it to be just us.
Do you prefer to live with roommates or alone?
An: I prefer living alone because I relax most when I can do whatever I want without having to consider another person’s wants/needs. Nonetheless, the whole roommate situation is turning out well for me.
Budd: Although I am still best friends with my freshman roommate, I far prefer living alone. I am a diva with a confusing and mercurial sleep cycle, and I can’t expect another human to accommodate that. Plus, my pile of dirty laundry doesn’t really allow room for a roommate.
Cartwright: I prefer a two room double because I get the best of both worlds.
Denekas: I’ve had the distinct displeasure of living with the same very tall and scatterbrained roommate since sophomore fall. Don’t know why, but I just keep going back for more. For those of you who know me, you may have seen me with said roommate once or twice around campus.
Driscoll: Alone, but next to good friends.
Gorman: I prefer to live alone because I can have calmness whenever I choose.
Harrast: Roommates. It’s always nice to have someone to talk to at the end of a long day.
Mansour: I currently have the ideal living situation being in the North Park apartments; I have my own room but share a large communal space with some of my best friends. Ditto for living in my sorority over sophomore summer. Having a single room in a large house or apartment satisfies both my desire for personal space and spectacular neediness.
Schaeffer: I like having a roommate. It’s nice to come home after a bad day and vent or wake up after a night out and debrief.
Sibilia: With roommates because I love waking up with my roommates and recapping the previous night first thing in the morning.
Have you ever been “the bad roommate”?
An: Well, indirectly. There was a knock on our door at 7 a.m. and my roommate was the one to get out of bed to open it. Turns out I got into an a cappella group, and the group came to sing for me. The song commenced, and in that moment, I felt sorry that it interrupted her peaceful slumber.
Budd: Absolutely. I’m from Maine, and my freshman roommate was Dominican. I loved sleeping with the window wide open in all seasons, and I would often wake up in the middle of the night to my poor shivering roommate climbing over me to shut the window.
Cartwright: I hope not! I just started two weeks ago though so I still have time to mess up.
Denekas: Yes — I’ve been told before that I have a slight problem with distracting others while we’re supposed to be studying. As in, my roommate goes into the inner bedroom, closes the door and locks me out when she really needs to focus.
Driscoll: Yes definitely, I sometimes take a really long time in the bathroom, and I also play weird music.
Gorman: No, as I’ve never had a roommate.
Harrast: Every time I hit snooze.
Mansour: I was definitely the “bad roommate” during my freshman year. I had people over constantly and didn’t respect my athlete roommate’s space (or sleep schedule) like I should have.
Schaeffer: Yes. One day, I was beyond exhausted and went to bed at 8 p.m. My poor roommate had a solid six hours of trying to find things in the dark/staying away from our room/telling people to stay away from our room/probably resenting me before she went to bed.
Sibilia: Sure hope not!
What does your room say about you?
An: Unlike most girls’ dorms, I only have two decorative pillows, no wall decor and a desk with a bulletin board full of to-do’s. My room says about me that I just like to get the job done.
Budd: My current room, in comparison to my freshman year room, says I have gotten my shit together impressively well, all things considered.
Cartwright: I think my room says that I like to watch movies (I have so many movie posters).
Denekas: It says that my roommate is a compulsive decorator — we have what she calls a “gallery wall” (?) — and that I go along with it.
Driscoll: My room has things from a bunch of different places; I would say I have multiple homes.
Gorman: It says I need to clean up.
Harrast: I’m pretty much a mess.
Mansour: My room is yellow, decorated with sunflowers, with wall space covered in art postcards. So I think it says I want to live in a Van Gogh still life and am failing miserably.
Schaeffer: I have a massive Kentucky flag on my wall, so I guess you’d be able to infer that I have a lot of state pride. #gocats
Sibilia: It says that I love food because there are snacks actually everywhere in my room.
Do you consider yourself an introvert or an extrovert?
An: I consider myself to be an ambivert. Oftentimes, I thoroughly enjoy being alone and/or it takes a toll on me to be with others. Other times, I crave social interaction and good times with great friends.
Budd: Absolutely an extrovert, because I gain energy from bothering others and I revel in being the last person to leave a party or abandon a basement scene.
Cartwright: I think I’m an extrovert. In some social situations I’ll be more introverted, but once I get to know people I can be really outgoing and much more extroverted!
Denekas: Definitely an introvert. I of course enjoy being with my wonderful friends, but only for limited amounts of time. When I studied abroad and traveled, I spent multiple days by myself and loved every single one of them.
Driscoll: I’m somewhere in between. I need some people time and some alone time every day.
Gorman: I consider myself an introvert because I don’t speak up when I should. I also consider myself an extrovert because I don’t shut up when I should.
Harrast: Proud introvert. I like socializing, but I need my alone time to recharge.
Mansour: I think I am an extrovert, though I can only be around people and keep up energy for so long. I gain energy from being in solitude, reading, writing, etc.
Schaeffer: I think I’m pretty smack dab in the middle. I love humans and love talking to people, but sometimes I am really not in the mood. It depends.
Sibilia: I’m an extrovert because I love talking to people.
