Question: should I change dorms?

[skywalker66]

Well, its been almost a month now since i moved in hear at the University of Minnesota Morris, and I am a freshman.
It's been fun so far, but one of the things that really bothered me the first week i moved here, and still kinda does is my floor.

Most people have pretty tight floors where they go to supper together, hang out in their floor lounge a lot together and have fun with each other a lot.

My floor on the otherhand, is gay. in the 5 rooms on my side of the wing, me and my roomate are the only freshman. The floor R.A. lives next to us, she's a sophmore girl, seems pretty nice. Then the other room by us is occuppied by someone who works there, who is 24 years old, and has multiple signs on his door stating he's a homosexual, also a shut-in.
The other 2 rooms are single rooms as well, with upper classmen who are really shy and shut in.
On the other end of the hall, there are 3 other freshmen rooms that are doubles, where 3 of them seem kinda nerdy and annoying, and the other 3 are never around. and then there are 2 sophmore girls and sophmore guy who are never around.

basically i feel like i got shafted. I'm kinda getting used to my floor at least. my roomate seems easy to get along with but we dont really have much in common. There are a few other decent ppl on my floor when they are around.

However, the floor above us is pretty cool. I was up there one time and they were really open and nice, and i played cards with them. lately they asked why i havent been up there recently, which made me feel good that they still remembered me, and they invited us to come up there whenever, since they are in their lounge all the time.

I didn't really find out the floor above us was nice until recently, before that i was set on the decision to move out,
if I did stay tho, i still wouldnt be actually living on their floor (something else to keep in mind)

Unfortunately there are no openings on floors in the current hall im at, but there are several openings in a different hall. I've been mainly interested in one particular floor that i heard about from my R.A. who heard from their R.A. that they have a really cool floor and get along real well. I walked over there, and found out that the opening is with a freshman who usually isnt around because he's with his girlfriend a lot. I heard he was pretty cool and laid back though from the people on the floor.

i havent met him yet, so i dont know for sure, but it sounds like he might be an okay roomate.
im going to walk over there tomorrow and talk to him.

Anyways, i've been really split about this decision and i need to decide soon since its almost a month in, and people are kinda forming their friends and what not.
It's been on my mind making it really hard for me to do homework and what not, and i havent really been having fun up here yet since i dont feel settled at all. havent talked to as many ppl lately, but wanna get rollin on that again soon.

so what do you guys think about all of this?

i basically breaks down to two things. which is better:

1. staying where im at now, where im kinda used to it, can go up a floor to talk to ppl if they are in their lounge, but still have a real crappy floor. oh yea, but a good roomate

or

2. moving to a new floor new hall, with a supposedly really cool group of kids that get along well, although id have to get settled over there all over again, and have to make myself known to a group of ppl that have known each other for a month. Also dont know if the roomate will be as good as my last.

its a tough call, im neck to neck with both.

what do you guys think?

 

[amdskip]

2. moving to a new floor new hall, with a supposedly really cool group of kids that get along well, although id have to get settled over there all over again, and have to make myself known to a group of ppl that have known each other for a month. Also dont know if the roomate will be as good as my last.

Dorms should be fun and enjoyable, make the most of it!

 

[skywalker66]

any more ideas?

 

[Freejack2]

Just keep hanging out with the people upstairs. I'm kind of suprised they have coed dorms. A lot of places don't have that.

 

[pulse8]

Originally posted by: Freejack2
Just keep hanging out with the people upstairs. I'm kind of suprised they have coed dorms. A lot of places don't have that.

I'd say more places have that than you realize.

Anyway, I agree that you should just hang out up stairs. It seems like you'd create more work for yourself by moving into a new floor (one that you still may not like) rather than just walking up stairs and hanging out with those people.

 

[skywalker66]

im so split, i keep on wavering back and forth between which decision i want to make, lol.

sometimes im in the mood to leave, sometimes to stay, i just simply cant decide.



EDIT: oh and btw, i heard a lot of good things about the new floor, and im mainly looking for more ppl to hang around when im bored, without going really outta my way. thats why i wanna live on a cool floor, or i could visit one nearby. tough to decide if its worth the move, vs the little less good situation of visiting a floor frequently.

very tough to decide.

 

[Jzero]

Personally, I think I'd opt for a proven roommate that you like and having to walk upstairs for a fun time, then go through the trouble of changing rooms, risk getting a roommate that I don't like (even though he doesn't sound bad), etc.

My freshman year, I lived on a floor that was very tight and it was cool at first, but after a few months it got annoying. They were drunk every night and my roommate would come stumbling back in at like 5AM, wake me up, and then sleep all day forcing me to have to feel like I should be quiet as a mouse in my own room. The first time we went nuts and pranked each others doors all night was hilarious. The 9th or 10th time of tearing down the duct tape on the door or cleaning off the crap all over the door since I knew my roommate would never do it, it started to get a little bit old.
Okay a lot old.

On the flipside, I was living in a freshman dorm, and my school had an intentionally created program called First Year Experience which was forged solely to promote a close-knit atmosphere among the freshmen. I had been to all the upper class dorms and they sounded about as you describe your floor--everyone is either a shut-in, or they have already established their little circles of friends and there isn't a whole lot of socializing going on.

Consequently, I sacrificed luxuries like Air Conditioning, carpeting and my own bathroom and created an arrangement for myself that allowed me to collect $500/semester off my room/board, $150/week in cash, and a single room in the thick of the freshman dorm, where if I wanted, I could open my door and participate in a very entertaining social tide created by a floor of people who are very close-knit and fun-loving, and I could close my door and make them disappear if I needed to sleep or study.

What a deal.

 

[Koing]

I say stay in and go chill out with the people from upstairs.

You have a good roomie, a nightmare roomie would be crap.....

Just go out and have fun even though the group of people you are with aren't as outgoing.

I just moved in to Uni also in England. I go to KCL and I am having fun. I do have some friends in my floor though and friends all over the place so it doesn't matter. As long as you have friends somewhere then its cool.

In life you won't always be with the people that you are friends with. Just make the best of it and chill with the people from upstairs....

 

[Garet Jax]

Originally posted by: skywalker66
Well, its been almost a month now since i moved in hear at the University of Minnesota Morris, and I am a freshman.
It's been fun so far, but one of the things that really bothered me the first week i moved here, and still kinda does is my floor.

Most people have pretty tight floors where they go to supper together, hang out in their floor lounge a lot together and have fun with each other a lot.

My floor on the otherhand, is gay. in the 5 rooms on my side of the wing, me and my roomate are the only freshman. The floor R.A. lives next to us, she's a sophmore girl, seems pretty nice. Then the other room by us is occuppied by someone who works there, who is 24 years old, and has multiple signs on his door stating he's a homosexual, also a shut-in.
The other 2 rooms are single rooms as well, with upper classmen who are really shy and shut in.
On the other end of the hall, there are 3 other freshmen rooms that are doubles, where 3 of them seem kinda nerdy and annoying, and the other 3 are never around. and then there are 2 sophmore girls and sophmore guy who are never around.

basically i feel like i got shafted. I'm kinda getting used to my floor at least. my roomate seems easy to get along with but we dont really have much in common. There are a few other decent ppl on my floor when they are around.

However, the floor above us is pretty cool. I was up there one time and they were really open and nice, and i played cards with them. lately they asked why i havent been up there recently, which made me feel good that they still remembered me, and they invited us to come up there whenever, since they are in their lounge all the time.

I didn't really find out the floor above us was nice until recently, before that i was set on the decision to move out,
if I did stay tho, i still wouldnt be actually living on their floor (something else to keep in mind)

Unfortunately there are no openings on floors in the current hall im at, but there are several openings in a different hall. I've been mainly interested in one particular floor that i heard about from my R.A. who heard from their R.A. that they have a really cool floor and get along real well. I walked over there, and found out that the opening is with a freshman who usually isnt around because he's with his girlfriend a lot. I heard he was pretty cool and laid back though from the people on the floor.

i havent met him yet, so i dont know for sure, but it sounds like he might be an okay roomate.
im going to walk over there tomorrow and talk to him.

Anyways, i've been really split about this decision and i need to decide soon since its almost a month in, and people are kinda forming their friends and what not.
It's been on my mind making it really hard for me to do homework and what not, and i havent really been having fun up here yet since i dont feel settled at all. havent talked to as many ppl lately, but wanna get rollin on that again soon.

so what do you guys think about all of this?

i basically breaks down to two things. which is better:

1. staying where im at now, where im kinda used to it, can go up a floor to talk to ppl if they are in their lounge, but still have a real crappy floor. oh yea, but a good roomate

or

2. moving to a new floor new hall, with a supposedly really cool group of kids that get along well, although id have to get settled over there all over again, and have to make myself known to a group of ppl that have known each other for a month. Also dont know if the roomate will be as good as my last.

its a tough call, im neck to neck with both.

what do you guys think?

Grass is always greener.

 

[notfred]

Originally posted by: Freejack2
Just keep hanging out with the people upstairs. I'm kind of suprised they have coed dorms. A lot of places don't have that.

UC Santa Cruz has co-ed bathrooms. Seriously.

 

[Jzero]

Originally posted by: notfred

Originally posted by: Freejack2
Just keep hanging out with the people upstairs. I'm kind of suprised they have coed dorms. A lot of places don't have that.

UC Santa Cruz has co-ed bathrooms. Seriously.

Some of the dorms at Swarthmore do, too. I stayed there for a few days. It was *very* disconcerting......

 

[wonTong]

When I dormed freshman year, I was in a co-ed hall with three floors. For me, my roommate and I never really talked to everyone else until maybe a quarter through the year. There were lots of cool people on the other end of our floor even though there were the weird ones. I was in the 2nd floor where everyone pretty much gathered. People from the 3rd floor sometimes came down to chill, but they were drama. The 1st floor was a little quiet, but the loud ones usually came up. Then when 2nd floor got quiet, I chilled with the guys upstairs.

Unless you absolutely know you have weird hallmates, you might want to stick around a bit. One of my other friends at another hall pretty much had hermit people. One of the bad sides is that you live right next to the RA. Unless she's really tolerant to noise, or you like to play music or games with headphones, it might be a problem. I found out that a crappy subwoofer travels pretty far in the dorms.

You also might not want a hall that's always socializing. Even though you might not be able to hear them, it's hard to study knowing that everyone else is having fun or just chilling. You could use your floor to study, and run up to lounge when you're bored. The close friends you make at the dorms will pretty much be the friends you chill with the rest of the years at college.... unless you join clubs or a frat. Just make the best of it.

 

[cavingjan]

Something to consider, you can always go somewhere else to socialize (one floor up) but can you go somewhere else to get peace and quiet and a good night sleep?

You only get out of it what you put into it. May last two years at school, we were a very social floor and my room was one of three that almost always had people in. Good for the social aspect but when you really needed some quiet to sleep or study, it just wasn't to be had. As far as dining hall trips, just make it with the floor above you.
Now if you have some issues with your roommate, then consider moving but I'd stick with the known quantity rather than the roommate who is never there because he's at his girlfriend's place. Sooner or later they are going to break up and then he's going to be there all the time until he gets another one and then its 50/50 whether he will be at her place to both of them will be at your place.