4 Years of Easy Living
I’ve lived in a residence hall for four years. I wouldn’t have it any other way.
My best friend goes to the University of Toronto, which is the exact opposite of Kenyon. She moves from skyscraper to skyscraper each year, dealing with different landlords and price points. This summer, her roommate came home to a carpet full of carpet beetles. She sent pictures — it was gross.
Now, I’m not saying that Kenyon’s housing is the Hilton. But it sure beats a lot of alternatives. Living on campus for the past four years has afforded me the opportunity to focus on my studies, not worrying about whether the plumbing will get fixed.
(And the time that I did have a plumbing problem, it was fixed quickly and easily — thank you, Maintenance!)
I guess I should outline where I’ve lived before I wax poetically. I started out in a double in Gund, then a double in Bushnell, and after being off-campus the first semester of my junior year, I settled into a single in Watson. Now I’m living the dream with a single in Farr Hall, with a bathroom connected to a friend’s single. Four years of dorm housing. Four years of easy living.
Now I hear you shouting, “Claire! What about my scenic apartment shared with six friends and an angry rabbit named Christoph? What about my dream of having an hour-long subway commute in order to get to classes on time?” And to you I say… Well, there are alternatives.
Though I’ve opted not to take that route, there’s plenty of apartment-style housing at Kenyon. Want a rustic, woodsy experience? Try the New Apartments (which are not as new as the name would suggest). Interested in the suburban dream? The North Campus Apartments look like Stepford and have the best kitchens on campus. There are also the Tafts, Aclands and Morgans — plenty of opportunity for you and your friends to live together in infamy. (Though the rabbit, sadly, is not allowed).
If you’re interested in a commute — though I don’t know why you’d be — you could live at the Kenyon Farm or the Brown Family Environmental Center. You may not have to take transportation to/from, but it is quite the walk up a hill from the BFEC.
Kenyon is a different school. Even most liberal arts schools don’t have students on-campus for four years. But the reason why Kenyon has such a great sense of community is because we’re present. Our lives are centered around this patch of land, and we take ownership of where we live. Sure, we don’t get carpet beetles, but we do have the assurance of a place to live our entire time here, with the resources we need. And at the end of the day? I’d prefer that to carpet beetles.