Six Struggles of Living Off Campus

By Katie Hake, The Dartmouth Staff | 6/26/14 3:00am

When sophomore summer rolls around, many students choose to round up a group of friends and brave the off-campus housing of Hanover for the first time. From paying rent to cleaning your own bathroom, living off campus comes with various new challenges that have introduced 16s to the real world this term. Here are six struggles you have to deal with when you decide to ditch the dorms.

1. The walk to campus can be long.

Particularly if there are hills involved, it may be wise to invest in a bike for your morning commute.

2. Trying not to brag about your air conditioner and off-campus meal plan.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Your friends get it. You didn’t have to make up an asthma/weak heart/broken leg condition in order to get that air conditioner installed. The room you have to yourself is always the perfect temperature and, on top of all this, you’re cooking amazing dishes in the comfort of your own kitchen. It’s fine to relish in these benefits, so long as you maintain an equal ratio of how often you talk about your awesome meal plan to how often you invite your friends over.

3. Still having to get rid of $910 of DBA from that awesome off-campus meal plan.

DDS is finally letting DBA rollover at the end of this term, but that still leaves at least $910 of DBA that needs to be spent for off-campus undergrads. With the Hop closed all summer, Collis closed on the weekends and KAF closing at 2, it seems that it’s FoCo’s time to shine.

4. Cleaning.

Washing dishes? Cleaning the toilet? Vacuuming? What are these things?????

5. Not knowing why the smoke detector is going off every ten minutes.

Are we going to die of carbon monoxide? Can’t I just call ORL?

6. Trying to make a 70’s-era house with countless holes in the walls, questionable stains on the carpet and slanted floors feel like home.

Which it will, eventually. Just add a pong table.


Katie Hake, The Dartmouth Staff