This summer, I let my housing situation be determined by fate. After being off campus for two terms in a row, I took a chance and luckily received an air-conditioned room on campus.
However, many other students chose to venture outside the campus housing bubble and make the most of alternative sophomore summer spaces. So where do they find themselves this term, and how have they made their spaces home?
A Kappa Delta Retreat
Ellie Alloway ’26 spent all of move-in day decorating. For a room like hers, however, it’s a small price to pay. On the second floor of Kappa Delta sorority, Alloway’s room makes you feel like you’ve fallen through the rabbit hole once the door shuts behind you.
Plants, both artificial and real, hang from ceilings and populate her windowsill. Under her vaulted bed, crawl into a cozy hangout with plenty of pillows for sitting. The room was bathed in a purple glow, broken up by twinkling lights. On the wall closest to her door, black wall paper provides a panel for a polaroid photo album of her visitors. My picture was the third to join the wall.
“My mom and I had to build some of the furniture in the hotel room and bring it over that way,” Alloway said.
Their efforts paid off. Every corner of the space is maximized for an otherworldly result.
Wooded Charm
The house Annabella Wu ’26 has subleased with her friends is overflowing with character. It’s a sweet combination of their tastes and the decor left behind by the many renters who came before them. The living room’s wood paneling gives the space the feel of a warm cabin, which continues through the ground floor into the kitchen.
“I found out about the place through a [Kappa Kappa Gamma member],” Wu said. “She was asking if anyone wanted to sublet from her for the summer. Me and my friends toured, and [we] really liked the place.”
With years of students coming and going, the space has accumulated fairy lights, cozy couches and many pieces of mismatched glassware.
The house has a charm that only time and care could create.
A Hanover Chateau
With its tall ceilings and spacious backyard, Chateau — situated on South Park Street— primes itself to be a hangout spot for every friend of its 10 residents this summer. Waiting outside, the quaint front steps of the house give the impression of an equally quaint home. But, as Soshie Bernstein ’26 led me through a wide living room with a cozy L-shaped couch, my assumptions were swiftly curbed. We headed out the back door to the patio, where the house’s backyard takes center stage. Lawn chairs, a fire pit and a tree swing provide everything you’d need for a chill night in or a larger get-together. With fairy lights that drape across the area at night, the house’s yard contributes greatly to its hang-out house character.
On the way back in, I briefly popped into the bedroom of Justine Brown ’26, who told me that I caught her room on a good day. Even messy, I can’t imagine that the deep blue shelves and cabinets ever get old to look at. Brown’s decor complements the accent tone, with vibrant reds and oranges providing a welcome contrast.
Laurel Hamilton ’26 also gave me a tour of her Chateau room, her space cementing the coastal yet cozy tones I saw in other places throughout the house. Sunlight filtered through her window and provided the perfect midday glow.
I left Chateau feeling a little calmer than I did when I entered, though that could be attributed to the invite I received to their s’mores night the following week.
As I walked back to my dorm that evening, I thought about the difference between all the spaces I’d seen and my own. Rooms so decorated that they’re unrecognizable from their shells, rooms that have come pre-decorated from the many lives lived in them and houses with built in accents and quirks. We all occupy these spaces so briefly, yet still our personalities shine through. Funny enough, I walked through my door and turned on the same fairy lights that everyone else seems to own.
All photos were taken by Noelle Blake ’26.
