Haven't blogged for nearly a month. Too busy with college exams and college in general...
To begin, I would like to state my own opinion on dorm life. I find that life at college is by far, better than life at home. Parents, jobs, and siblings are never a problem here for me, and I find it very relaxing. Tons of kids my age live within footsteps of me, and I find myself getting along quite well. No one is here to tell me what to do, where to go, where not to go, or anything like that. I don’t have to make my bed, or even match anymore. Its great! Personally, I find college dorm life better than life at home.
There are many students who agree with me. Students find that there are more people to associate with, and more parties to go to. There is never a curfew, and never parental guidance. Total independence is what makes life here so much easier. The pressure from parents urging studying is by far very annoying, and who wants to do chores? Money is sent in the mail, meals ( in which I will thoroughly comment on some other time ) are free, and everything is within walking distance. It really does sound strange to hear people complaining about living at school.
You depend on your parents at home, more so than you do now. But what I found out is that your parents still supply you with everything, so you really get the best of both worlds. Parents can be a huge bothersome at home when they become too intrusive in your life. They want to control everything. At college, your parents don’t have the ability to pry open your life and invade your personal space. They still, however, play a role as the supplier. They take a sort of nuetral position, and seem to be very easily delt with. They treat you as an adult, and often show that they are very supportive of you. This is a defenite advantage of living on campus versus living at home, as parents seem to be a big thing for people my age
Dorm life can very easily get boring, lonely, and very much stressful as well. People piss each other off, and fights break out. Sleeping is another problem presented. At home, no one is up all hours of the night, every night, playing music. This can be a huge problem for those who have the 8:00 am class the next morning. The meals are indeed free, but indeed suck. The food can get very old very quick, and the variety you once had in September, has now died down to the same thing every other day. You begin to memorize the schedule. Green crap on Mondays, Blue crap on Tuesdays, and Blue/Green crap every other day. Yes, it does sound like dorm life isn’t for everyone.
Along with being bored a lot and not sleeping well, leaving your friends is another disadvantage. For many people who live on campus, they leave a lot of their childhood friends behind. Some are still in high school, and some go to other colleges. Many students travel far for their schools, and a lot do not have cars like they did when they were home. The withdrawal from friends can put a big damper on the college experience. Holidays sometimes can be the only time they come home, and a lot never keep the same relationship they did when they were younger. Friendships are hard to maintain from far away.
So in conclusion, I have compared the good and the bad of living at home versus living in the dorm. It seems that for some individuals, dorm life is heaven, for some, hell. My opinion only goes so far, but for the most part, I enjoy residing where I do. For the ones who are not yet in college, and are thinking about whether or not to live on campus, my only advice is that it is not for everyone. You are just going to have to see for yourself.
