What is college dorm life like?
Dorm life at college can be exhilarating, and it can be exasperating. Most of the time, though, it’s somewhere in between. Ah, memories of my freshman year in the dorms: all-night bull sessions about everything from childhood fears to our ideal jobs, sleeping on the floor of a friend’s room because my roommate deposited his supper on our room’s floor after some hard partying, getting to know people with whom, even today (three decades later), I correspond, and the dances, football games, spring days, and . . . You get the picture. Dorms are sort of a benign boot camp for young, idealistic freshmen. Every year, all across America, millions of strangers are asked to share their lives and living habits for nine months during a year of stress and adventure. ‘Almost sounds like a recruiting ad for the Navy, doesn’t it? The truth about dorm life is that it’s mostly what you make of it. Sure, you can get stuck with a roommate whom you not only dislike but who is also the biggest slob (or neat
