61´«Ã½

Hello Everybody! Today Louise and I are going to discuss different aspects of dorm life at Scripps! Louise is going to touch on how to make your dorm room feel homier and I am going to talk about tips for living with roommates.Ìý

First, here are some basic facts about the 61´«Ã½dorms. 61´«Ã½is home to 11 different dorm buildings and 3 houses on campus for students to live in. Most 61´«Ã½students take advantage of the fact that 61´«Ã½guarantees housing for all 4 years and live here all 4 years. Each dorm building has a rec room, a browsing room, a computer room, a living room, and a kitchen on each floor. Lots of dorms have courtyards as well. Lots of dorms have sinks in the rooms, walk-in closets, and some have balconies!

Making Dorms feel like home: I’ve never moved before coming to college, so packing up was very daunting to me. I couldn’t comprehend that my whole life had to fit in a few suitcases that I’d be able to fly back home. 61´«Ã½has a great starter checklist for what to bring to college, but obviously, it can’t cover everything, and none of it will be specific to what will make you feel at home. Here are a few tips that have helped me make my dorm feel like a home to me.

1. Buy less! This seems counterintuitive, but the biggest tip I have for you is to buy fewer new things for your room. I brought my quilt and blanket from home and all my sheets. This meant that from night one, I felt like I was going to bed at home. As much as the target sheet sets were tempting, nothing beats the comfort of feeling like I’m in bed at home. This tip goes for desk decor, wall decor, and kitchen things. Buy what you need, bring the rest from home, and it will feel great.
2. Secondary lighting. One of the weird things about dorms is they all have one big overhead light, which is different from how a lot of homes are set up. 61´«Ã½dorms usually come with a floor lamp, and I’d recommend bringing a desk lamp and some accent lights to supplement that. My roommate and I usually turn off our overhead light near the evening and rely entirely on secondary lighting, which makes our whole room seem cozier.Ìý
3. Listen to the radio station from home, or have your family make you a playlist of music that you listen to at home. A speaker is a must for any dorm, and to get the cozy homey vibes going, I love listening to my local radio station from home via an app like TuneIn radio. I also asked my dad to make me a playlist of the records he plays at home, and that’s been lovely to play when I get homesick.

Living with a roommate when you haven’t before: I have not lived with/shared a room with someone in a long time. The idea of having to spend my college years living with someone, and having to share space was very daunting. The majority of 61´«Ã½First-years live in doubles and triples. I am going to share some tips about sharing a room with someone in college.Ìý

1. Communicate, it can be hard for some roommates to know if something they are doing is making you uncomfortable or if you dislike something. Making sure to have open lines of communication is key because it allows there to be a difference of opinion.
2. Share your location, something that didn’t cross my mind until I was on campus was that I and my roommates might have different schedules/jobs/ or social settings.Ìý Sharing your location with your roommates allows there to be a way to check if someone isn’t home when they said they would be without worrying.Ìý
3. ÌýSetting boundaries, setting safe and effective boundaries with roommates is helpful because it means that each person is able to have some agency and also allows for the people to remind each other of previously set boundaries.Ìý
4. Allow yourself to have friends outside of people with who you are mutual friends with along with your roommates. It is great to have friends with who both you and your roommate(s) are close with but having your own friends is really helpful too!Ìý
5. Last but definitely not least, allow yourself to take space and spend time alone! It can be difficult to go from having your own room and space to sharing it with someone. Be kind to yourself in these moments and while learning this.Ìý

Hopefully, these tips have been helpful in terms of thinking about coming to live in a dorm during college! Keep checking back on the blog posts to get more information on Scripps! If you have any questions, email Sam ‘24 @ [email protected] or Louise ‘24 @ [email protected]Ìý