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Making your dorm your home ✿

The one space on campus  you really want to make sure you make home is your DORM! Because you go back and sleep there  every night, have a few snacks, invite friends over every so often and sometimes study… (at least for me, I don’t like studying on my desk).

Here’s a little info on living on the hill and ways I’ve made my dorm my home away from home.

The Roommate Process

The first part of picking a dorm is picking a roommate! As a freshman you are assigned to a dorm with a completely random stranger (or two). Sometimes people have bad relationships with their roommates… and sometimes they turn out to have such a great situation/friendship that they  end up rooming together again! That was the case with me and my roommate from freshman year.

In the Spring you get a random time and at that time you choose where you and your desired roommate will live. Our ideal situation was to live in one of the traditional Sophomore dorms (Lehy). Since we had such a late time we ended up choosing Wheeler (which this year transitioned from being a freshman dorm to a sophomore dorm). The few weeks I’ve been living here have made me realize that this was actually the best situation I could have been in and couldn’t be happier living in a building where I don’t have to climb up stairs everyday!!

Pictured: Me and my roommate Britt Axelson ’21 in our cozy home in Wheeler Hall (:

Decorating

When you look around my side of the room you can see bits and pieces of pictures, memories, and trinkets that I use to personalize my room as my space.  A big part of that is having my favorite books with me, pictures that remind of home (Kansas City) on my desk and pictures of loved ones and pets.

I even went out to get some plants to bring the nature vibes inside

I went on a walk with a friend to a local plant store, Seed to Stem and got an aloe vera and baby cactus for our dorm.

Organizing your space

Missing: A tapestry :0 I’m going to DIY a tapestry with a friend out of some sheets we thrifted last weekend

Since this space is a bit small, I got bed risers and 2 shelfs to put under my bed. I got both of these at the New2U sale hosted by Eco-Action B-)
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Lets talk about mental health

It’s been a while since I’ve posted, so welcome back to my blog!

Going back home for over a month was definitely refreshing, and also reminded me of how much more I missed home than I thought I did. I thought homesickness wasn’t really an issue for me during the first semester, but when I saw my parents for the first time I felt a sense of comfort that I longed for during my first months on the hill. I realized then that I hadn’t seen my parents in over 3 months and that was the longest I was ever away from home. I learned to busy myself with school and feelings that lead me to an unhealthy mental health state. Semester one wasn’t easy. It happened, I made mistakes, but most importantly I learned from them.

During difficult times, it is important to seek help from others. You can’t stay quiet, and one of the biggest lessons I learned (As simple as it seems) was communication. Many don’t like to talk about going to the counseling center, because there is a bad stigma associated with it. But these resources are important for students to know about and USE because they are free, and there for us to use to help us.

Aside from that, there are staff and faculty on campus willing to help you. Go to office hours. Talk to your professors. If someone tells you to feel free to drop by and say hi, do it. (i.e. a dean giving a speech during convocation) They mean it. So go out there and meet the people that surround you!

Prioritizing yourself sometimes may not seem feasible, but it is important to take a break for yourself. One of the ways I practice self care is by doing face masks, and  these two are my favorite. Additionally, journaling my feelings also helps, as well us making some sort of art. Sometimes, various clubs will even have special de stressing nights where you can make art and get free massages, etc.

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Here’s to Semester two (Goals):

  1. Improve  time management
  2. Communicate with others
  3. Use the resources available to you
  4. Be more aware of spending habits to save money
  5. Take time for yourself
  6. Have fun!