Off-campus living tops dorm life

After having a full two years behind me here at Tech, I have come to fully appreciate what I come home to each day: not a loving wife or a dog, but rather a quiet apartment.

My apartment is located within walking distance of class, and I also have many acquaintances that live nearby. But my favorite aspect of my apartment is that it is off-campus.

Yes, I am one of the few and one of the proud, who ditched campus living to go out into the metro-area and find a place of my own. Why you may ask? It is because I love my space.

Now I do not hold anything against Housing, it is just that I got off on the wrong foot in my first semester. Here is how I was scared into moving off-campus: I came to Tech wanting to meet new people. I was also looking forward to living in the dorms after hearing stories from my friends and family members about the good times I could expect to have. I figured the dorm experience would be fun with my one roommate as I became acquainted with college life, but that aspiration never got started.

Soon after orientation, I received my housing assignment. This was bad news from the start. I was assigned to a quad. Any future freshmen be warned of quads: they are the devil's gift to Tech (besides Calculus II and any physics class).

For anyone who does not know what a quad is, let me explain. It is a dorm maybe twice the size of a regular dorm, and I emphasize maybe, that is designed to hold four people. My parents tried to be encouraging and said it would be fine, but they missed the target on that one.

The guys I lived with were not horrible; the crammed quarters just created a bad situation. Plus, when I found out that one of them was an aspiring musician who insisted on practicing instead of letting me study, things got a little sour.

After reflecting over the semester I had spent as a sardine experiment, I decided I was living off-campus no matter what after Christmas break. I just wanted to get a place of my own that was not so crowded. Did I mention that I need my own space?

I chose to live in apartments that were close to campus and had spacious living quarters. The apartment is great for enjoying that three-foot halo of personal space.

After one year of living on-campus and one year of living off-campus, I have come up with a few comparisons that might assist anyone who is in the residence limbo on making the final decision on where to live.

The first thing that comes to mind are meals. I do not have a dining hall nearby, and getting a meal plan seems a little ridiculous when I have a perfectly good stove in my kitchen. So, I am forced to cook. I do not get extravagant with the cooking, maybe a little Chef Boyardee or something microwaveable. Having to prepare my meals is a hassle, but I am getting a little better at cooking. If you do not care too much for the overpriced meal plan or the food at the dining halls, then cooking for yourself works just fine.

When you pay rent off-campus, it does not necessarily mean that everything else is paid for, such as cable, electricity, or internet service. I unfortunately found an apartment that did not include these services. So I turn off the lights whenever I can, keep an eye on the thermostat and have just now gotten cable after going without television for 10 months. I have survived though; and paying for all these "extras" teaches lessons on how to save and budget when I have to do this for real.

The one thing that sold me on off-campus living was that I could finally have my own bathroom: no more community showers! I was lucky enough to get a dorm that was equipped with showers that had walls, unlike some dorms. Either way, it was miserable wearing flip-flops to the shower. Besides, meeting the janitor in the morning while you were only wearing a smile and a towel seemed a little awkward.

With off-campus living, it does get tiring having to walk 15minutes just to get to class, but I guess I need the exercise. You do not know how much you miss the Stinger until you have to trek a mile in the blistering Atlanta heat just to get to class, but these days are few and far between, and I have come to enjoy walking. When it rains, I walk so I do not have to fight the 500 people who want to ride on the Stinger (it is called an umbrella, people, use it).

With any living situation there are pros and cons. In my case, off-campus had more pros than on-campus. But it is not the same for everybody; everyone is different. Housing claims to be overcrowded; so I am helping the cause. One day I may move back to campus, just as long as I do not live in a quad.