Havighurst Hall
Havighurst Hall is my home for my freshman year of college. It is detached from most of campus, secluded but close enough to still get to class in a timely matter. On the outside it looks like most halls here in Oxford, almost like a miniature white house or mansion. The sidewalks are less crowded than main campus like spring street, but still occupied with traffic going both ways during most times of the school day. Alexander the closest dining hall is said to be one of the best on campus giving the students living in the boonies of Miami an advantage for being so far from everyone else. On the inside of the building almost every dormitory door has a white board. Some boards have many messages some few, many from friends with updates of events or random hellos, and several from random strangers leaving inappropriate but none the less funny images. Almost every third door is open where friends or those looking for friends are welcome. The girls halls smell rather perfumes or of girly air fresheners. The male halls do not smell bad, but are definitely not has flowery as the girls, as expected. The doors are thin enough to hear when your neighbor and their roommate has come home late after an eventful night, but quiet enough that you can't hear the homesick freshman a little more than upset being away from the normal friends and family. New friends and acquaintances are constantly being made because so many people are new to each other. The bathrooms are crowded but not congested in the mornings, at least in the girls’ halls. The kitchenette on the third floor is often used during lunch and early afternoon hours. Mainly only the microwave is used, and there are splatters of different soups and/or pastas on the counter, it’s not disgusting but if made a habit without attention there could be a smelly situation in that room.
Not only is Havighurst Hall now my home, but home to many new freshman here at Miami. Now we all have to live together, although not closely, we still use the same doors, and we’re all in a very different environment from homes back home.
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1 comment:
Great description--there were a lot of details you included that gave me a full picture of what the dorms are like. I drive by many of them each day but I have never been inside. Your description colors my idea of the dorms more fully. Good.
Where next? I guess that is the big question most of us will ask. Where and what next? This is the tricky part...you've got you place, got the description, but now what to add?
Your piece made me think a lot about home and the concept of home. One idea would be to look at the dorm as a new home, as you mentioned, and maybe find some opinions of how it stacks up to student's real homes. What makes the notion of home? Is it just the bathroom, kitchen, message board, bed, all the traditional signifiers, or is the social network? Which seems more important to the idea of "home?" Just a thought (take or leave it, of course..)
thanks for this.
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