The Dorm Room Essay, Research Paper

The Dorm Room

Most freshmen in college expect dorms to be similar to a boxed-in room, that is always hot and that doesn?t feel like home. On the contrary, dorm rooms are what you make of them by adding your specific needs and personal decoration touches. In Valley 3, they come with the basics, like a desk and beds, but most people feel that it needs more. Although it is your new home for the school year, some things should be fixed in order to feel more comfortable.

When you first walk in the door to your room, you see the closet in the entranceway (on the right or left, depending on how it is set up). It might have a curtain, it might not. If you share a room with someone, you might think it is a little smaller than you?d have expected. So, your new fall wardrobe might have some problems fitting in with your heavy winter sweaters that you need to bear Kalamazoo?s winter. I feel that closet space should be expanded a little. With all of your clothes, roommate?s clothes, and storing all your ?what-nots?, you might run into some problems. On the opposing side, having a smaller closet makes the room space bigger, and the usage for the drawers more prevalent. It also makes the entranceway wider, rather than having to squeeze your way through. But, it all depends on if you have a lot of things and if you would be willing to sacrifice space in your room, just for your closet. With a larger closet, your black pants for Friday?s party might not be wrinkled because it was smooched near those stackable blocks that hold you towels!

As you look further into the room, a bed (or beds) is on the floor. Well, the room is small enough, can something be done? You can either leave them and say the heck with it, bunk them and create a bit more space, or loft them and discover that you actually have a floor! A loft is wood attached to the walls and ceiling to raise the bed. Personally, I believe the beds should come pre-lofted before your arrival. It is easier to start organizing and putting things away when there is more room. Especially when you put the carpeting in. Lofted beds are the way to go for a bigger looking room and more moving options for your furniture. If you don?t like the idea of climbing a ladder to get to bed after a party ends at 3am, then you might want to leave the beds down and compensate with the space you have left, or crash on the futon!

Now, on to the bathroom situation. I think everybody should have their own bathrooms. Community bathrooms I think are unsanitary and an inconvenience. For instance, you are late for class, worked out last night so you are dirty and need to take a shower. You run into your community bathroom and turn on the shower. You then realize you forgot your soap and shampoo, so you run back grab them, and return to the shower. You almost walk into the shower when you then realize you forgot your shower shoes and robe. You have to run back to your room, grab your things and resume to the bathroom. Now, you might as well not even go to the class! In personal bathrooms, everything is either in the shower or in the bathroom. No need for running in and out of your room to grab anything. It minimizes the risk of being late for a class because you can just jump in, shower, dry up, go next door, throw on clothes and leave. Really, the only thing you have to do to keep your bathroom clean is to maintain it. Share and split the duties with your suite and roommates and you will have no problem. It is as simple as that!

As you take a closer look into your dorm room, you see a cable hook up, phone jack and an Internet hook up. I think that ether-net cards should be mandatory for all computers. Ether-net is a landline connection through a wide spread of computers. It increases the speed and makes surfing the web an easy task. The university can add the price for the card in the tuition and when the bill comes monthly or bi-monthly, bill it for service. Ether-net keeps the phone line clear and it speeds up the Internet process. Without ether-net, nobody can use the phone to call someone; you can be waiting ?for the site to be contacted? or if you download music, the process is much faster. Ether-net is perfect for all college students and should be used.

Next, you touch the walls. Ouch! Why are the walls so bumpy? You realize if you hit your head on the ceiling (from your loft) that it will hurt really bad. Why can?t the dorm interior decorators make the walls smooth? We get the picture that we can?t nail anything into the wall, but if your head nails into it? One word: pain! On the other hand, the walls are concrete. When your suitemate is playing Metallica really loud and you are doing a paper for your English 105 class, it won?t disturb you (unless both bathroom doors are open) because you can?t really hear it. Unless, they decide to see how loud their 10-speaker surround sound can go, you really shouldn?t have a problem.

Overall, the dorm rooms here at Western Michigan University offer a lot of options for living comfortably. Brining your personal touches from your room at home can turn your dorm room into ?your room.? Posters, jewelry boxes, photos, memorabilia, and anything else you can cram in the room make it special. Despite the rough walls, small closets, un-lofted beds, and not an automatic Internet connection it still is your home away from home. It is a dorm room and it is better than you think. Your first year of college is made special by living in a dorm, and it is ?your room?