Tag Archives: dorm living

Unofficial Orientation Series 2018: Dorm Living FAQ

Holly and Xue wrote the first version of this post in 2006 and it has been reposted every year since then. Dorm Life never changes much. Unless Fauver becomes Bennett (wow this joke is old). [Or unless Clark goes on fire a few times]

Pictured: A bright-eyed young freshman shakes his groove thang, eager to impress his lofty peers. Taken by Rachel Pincus '13.

Pictured: A bright-eyed young freshman shakes his groove thang, eager to impress his lofty peers. Taken by Rachel Pincus ’13.

This is part of our 2018 Unofficial Orientation Series. A quick reminder that you can check out the welcome post here and past years’ series here.

Dear frosh of 2022,

As you are probably fretting about your first day of college, a sense of melancholy (or jittery excitement and increased WesAdmits activity, if you hated high school) has creeped up on you. Are you making lists of toiletries and getting boxes from Staples to pack your life into? Wondering how much action your soon-to-be bed has gotten in the past? A lot, probably.

(Melisa’s note: Our cheery freshmen selves a wee [two years] ago ventured onto the wilderness of Waste Not, and my friends ended up purchasing a futon for very cheap. We ended up *probably* spending the same amount on febreeze that we ended up dousing said futon in. This is to say that even your futon isn’t safe from the wonders of college sexuality.)

But don’t be too frazzled. Before you finish your housing form, get your roommate(s) assignment, and make dorm Facebook groups that no one will check after October, Wesleying‘s here to answer your 40ish most pressing questions related to waking-up-and-instantly-having-200-or-so-of-your-peers-to-hang-out-with.

The pertinent FAQ doesn’t change much from year to year, so we tend to update/repost much of the original guide by Norse Goddess Holly-and-Xue ’08 (cuz it’s still damn good and we’re still damn lazy) every year. This re-vamped guide is up to date and full of Wesleyan lingo:

Wesleying Unofficial Orientation Series 2015: Dorm Living FAQ

This post is a repost of a repost of a repost of a repost of a repost. Dorm Life never changes much. Unless Fauver becomes Bennett.

dormlyfe

Dear frosh,

At this point in the summer, you are probably fretting over things like college. A sense of melancholy (or jittery excitement and increased WesAdmits activity, if you hated high school) has creeped up on you. Are you making lists of toiletries and getting boxes from Staples to pack your life into? Wondering how much action your soon-to-be bed has gotten in the past? A lot, probably.

But don’t be too frazzled. Last year’s Unofficial Orientation Series Dorm Living post  Wesleying‘s here to answer your 40ish most pressing questions related to waking-up-and-instantly-having-200-or-so-of-your-peers-to-hang-out-with.

The pertinent FAQ doesn’t change much from year to year, so we tend to repost much of the original guide by Norse Goddess Holly-and-Xue ’08 (cuz it’s still damn good and we’re still damn lazy). This re-vamped guide is up to date and full of Wesjargon:

View With A Room: Buttloads of Space, Sunlight and Style in the Butts

Wardrobe View

Despite living in the “not-newly-renovated second floor of Butts C,” Rachel Fox ’16 has a kick-ass dorm room.

Perhaps most commendable is her innovative use of bleak dorm furniture. After situating her wardrobe diagonally in the corner of the room “to give the space more of an open feeling,” Rachel has perched her three-shelf bookcase on its side atop the wardrobe to create three skinny cubbies.
Phenomenal space-saving skills? She’s got ’em. Ability to reach tall things? I sure hope so.

srsly guys y arent any of u selfabsurbed enuf 2 take room pix

No, guys, what the heck? Don’t you want everyone to see what your room looks like? Come on. I asked about it weeks ago. Don’t make me that guy who keeps asking to see your room all the time (I promise, that’s it! Nothing weird!). Even if you’re not ready for a Lifehacker feature like “tobobo” ’13 clearly is, you can at least do better than whoever lives in the luxury suite pictured above, right? Right? No? You won’t email staff[at]wesleying[dat]org just for the heck of it? Come on, maybe you’ll go viral or some shit. That could be cool. Take a picture of your friend’s room and submit it without telling them. That couldn’t possibly end badly! Just do it!

Fine, then. I didn’t want to see it anyway. I was just trying to be nice when I asked. God. It’s Saturday, I could be, like, having, like, so much, like, fun, or like, whatever. You know?

Ugh.

View with a Room: show us urs n well show u ours…….

Need an incentive to clean up your room? (I know I do.) Need a reward for having your setup finalized weeks ago? (Great job!) Are you a vain motherfucker? (…)

Us fine folks here at Wesleying take part in a more-or-less regular series we have to like to call “View with a Room” (check that link to see past installments). We ask readers like you — preferably students, though we’ll also inadvertently accept submissions from non-students clever enough to evade our detection — to send in pictures of your rooms, with a few words attached to give some context to the images we’re seeing. All class years are welcome – dorm rooms may seem the obvious default, but if you’re living in an apartment or house and decked out your common area, or youre the girl whose room in our house we share happens to actually be two rooms, and you decided to convert the outer one into an upstairs lounge, show us that, too.

When it comes down to it, this feature series is just another way in which Wesleying strives for the same lofty goal as always: let students speak for themselves about what student life is really like here. Or at least, that’s what we tell ourselves when the tears begin to flow. So please, don’t   let me start bawling in Usdan for the second time this semester. Find a friend who’s into photography, put the pizza boxes and Dubra handles under the bed, and send your view — with a room  — to staff(at)wesleying(dot)org. We’d also really love it if you included “View with a Room” in the title, so we can keep things sorted nicely. Click past the jump for a few that have already been on the blog, just in case some kid two years ago literally had exactly the same idea as you.

WESCR1B$, Part Three: Hewitt Room

Our survey of your WESCR1B$ continues, and Elle Markell ’14 sends in pictures of her Hewitt room, where she efficiently and stylishly uses the room’s space. Elle also appears to own a really boss Frigidaire fridge (with a separate freezer compartment!). I highly recommend it! Elle writes: 

I put the bed on the floor and added a body pillow so that it could double as a couch. The balcony chairs and table are from Ikea, as are the lamps and the bedside table/crate. On the walls are various polaroids and other personal photographs, a Frank Lloyd Wright calendar, and a few band posters.

For WESCR1B$ room inspiration, click here, here, and/or here. Procrastinate (or efficiently schedule your time) by sending pics of your room, hovel, tipi, or couch and fun descriptions of them to staff(at)wesleying(dot)org!

[nggallery id=101]  

WESCR1B$, Part Two: Lo Rise A5

While you’re studying for finals and getting free vibrators, find some time to send us pictures of your WE$CR1B! If you call your room “The Command Center ;),” we want to see why!
Ethan Young ’13 sends in lovely pictures of his softly-lit Lo Rise apartment (the above picture is of the tastefully decorated and nicely rug-ed common room). 
[nggallery id=100]

Young’s description of the upstairs (no need to be apologetic for the lighting, your room still looks cozy):

View with a Room: WESCR1B$

Do you decorate with ponies?

What does YOUR room say about YOU? We really want to see your rooms! There’s probably some cool stuff in them! Are you especially proud of the way you arranged furniture? Do you have nice tapestries? Is there a hammock on your balcony? Does your minimalist attitude inspire your eerily bare walls?  Send us pictures of them, please. The last time we did this, we saw rooms decked out with carpeting and wallpaper and faux-ethnic decor. Now that you’ve had a few months to settle in, we’d like to compile pictures of your rooms for other people to see!

This particular room belongs to a WestCo duct tape aficionado. The majority of wall art is made of duct tape. Weird and creative things are encouraged in this feature! Normal (which is still cool) things are encouraged too! We would love to see how our fellow Wespeople are living, without having to lurk outside your bedroom window.

Send pictures from Houses, Microhouses, Apartments, Dorm rooms, Occupy tents,  misc. shelters to  Staff(at)Wesleying(dot)org with some captions (or I might have to over analyze the juxtaposition of your Mad Men and The Adventures of Tintin posters).

 

Wesleying Unofficial Orientation Series: Dorm Living FAQ

 

Season’s greetings, everyone! It’s that time of the year again: the prefrosh facebook group is going haywire with questions, answers, and assorted chitchat as O-Week draws ever closer. So, as we have done in Augusts past, Wesleying is once again starting up its Unofficial Orientation Series to inform (informally) our incoming freshman class.

In this edition, we repost (as always) the original guide to dorm living by Wesleying founder Empress Holly-and-Xue ’08, because it’s damn good and we’re damn lazy. Fear not, however – old information has been substantially replaced, updated, and appended where appropriate. 2015ers (and especially excited others), click on past the jump for everything you’ll ever need to know about anything.

“I don’t always donate my unwanted things…”

But when I do, it’s to the Waste Not! Collection Zones in my dorm’s lounge or laundry room. Donate as you pack! Waste Not! will collect any unwanted but usable clothing, furniture, fridges, books, electronic devices, school supplies, posters, lamps, mirrors, cleaning supplies, non-perishable food & more. All proceeds from September’s tag sale go to charity & to Wesleyan sustainability efforts. Email us at wesustainability@gmail.com with any questions