Moving on to off-campus

(U-WIRE) U. of Maryland-I have been waiting for this forever: my own place. A place where I can invite my friends over and have enough space for them all to mingle without worrying about an RA telling me to turn down the music. A place I can furnish how I want, live with my friends and cook in my own kitchen.

Did I mention that I have a mouse in my kitchen? Also, the exterminators are coming this week to fumigate for roaches. Gross. Just because my apartment is infested and I have to share one bathroom with three other girls, doesn't mean I would trade it in to live on campus. Dorms are a great place to live freshman year when everything is new and you are meeting lots of people. But who really feels like meeting those people when walking down the hall in nothing but a bathrobe?

Space: I like the luxury of having a nice, big bedroom and a separate living room to sit on the couch and watch TV, and a kitchen to cook in. I even plan on catching fewer illnesses living off campus considering I won't be in such close quarters. And I don't have to worry about asbestos anymore. I have white painted, cozy, homey-looking walls, while those of you dwelling in the dorms live in a drab yellow, puke pink or sterile blue cement-bricked room that reminds me of a prison cell.

Cleanliness: I don't have to walk down a hall that was trashed by drunks the night before. Nor do I have to use a filthy bathroom that smells like puke. Or find huge globs of hair stuck to the shower drain because nobody cleans the bathrooms on the weekend. Although, cleaning is often a problem here: My roommates and I are constantly fighting over who will clean the bathroom, the kitchen, etc.

Dining hall food: While I enjoy having a kitchen to cook whatever I want, when I want it, I must admit my cooking isn't all that great. So I can't really complain about dining hall food.

Also, I like having the choice of what long-distance plan to use, so I don't have to drain my bank account calling home. However, I do miss having an ethernet connection.

Okay, so you people living on campus get to go only a few short steps to the front desk to pick up your UPS packages. While, if I am not home when UPS comes, I have to trek all the way to the post office. You don't have to deal with bills for the utilities, Internet or groceries. You also don't have to call and complain to your landlord 50 times before he comes three weeks later to fix a leak in the ceiling.

But, I really don't mind. I like the fact that I have more responsibility. I am that much closer to officially being on my own.