How to Handle Bad Housing

WHERE ARE YOU LIVING NEXT YEAR? SINGLE OR DOUBLE? WHO’S YOUR ROOMMATE? 

HOUSING, HOUSING, HOUSING CONTINUES TO INFILTRATE MANY CONVERSATIONS AFTER THE RESIDENCE SELECTION DAYS IN APRIL.

WITH HOW COMPETITIVE AND CHAOTIC THE PROCESS WAS, MANY STUDENTS HAVE NOT-SO-HAPPY RESPONSES TO THE QUESTIONS ABOVE.

FOR THOSE WHO WERE ASSIGNED PRIORITY NUMBERS PASSED THE 1600s, AND FOR THOSE WHO ENDED UP WITH A DORM NOT EVEN IN THEIR TOP TEN, THIS ONE’S FOR YOU. 

HOW DOES ONE MAKE THE MOST OUT OF A BLEAK LIVING SITUATION?

TO ANSWER THIS QUESTION, I SPOKE WITH NORTHWESTERN STUDENTS WHO DEALT WITH UNSAVORY HOUSING EXPERIENCES OF THEIR OWN. 

MEDILL SOPHOMORE YSA QUIBALLO AND HER ROOMMATE ANNIE XIA HAD PRIORITY NUMBERS THAT AVERAGED AROUND THE 1700S LAST YEAR. 

[Ysa Quiballo] We log into the portal and all that’s left is Sargeant, Elder, and all of our classes are usually South campus. So we’re like, “okay, we’ll just pick the one furthest south. And so yeah, after that scrambling to choose the room, we calmed down a little bit and were like, “Okay. We got Sarge. Now what?” 

BUT BY WINTER BREAK, QUIBALLO SAYS HER SARGE DOUBLE HAD BEGUN TO GROW ON HER. 

[Quiballo] During winter break, I went back, and I was like “Hmmmm. This feels different.” It had felt different before, but it really feels like I’m settling into Northwestern as my home base. And I was like “Man. The shower pressure isn’t the same as Sarge. The room temperature isn’t the same as Sarge. Why am I missing Sarge right now?” 

KHOI LE, A SOPHOMORE STUDENT IN BOTH WEINBERG AND BIENEN, IS CURRENTLY AN R-A ON THE FOURTH FLOOR OF JONES. 

LE WASN’T EXACTLY ECSTATIC ABOUT HIS ASSIGNMENT. 

[Khoi Le] First they assigned me to East Fairchild and I had a close friend who’s also an RA, and he had gotten assigned to Bob. So I was like, “Okay, I could have it way worse. At least I’m south,” because most of what I do is south. And then they moved me to Jones and I was like, “Sh*t”. I was like, “Oh sh*t”. It could get worse. 

THAT WAS IN THE BEGINNING. NOW, LE SAYS HE’S APPRECIATED HIS TIME IN THE DORM. 

[KL] I’m like, surprisingly quite grateful. And I mean this was great. I couldn’t have asked for better residents.

WEINBERG SOPHOMORE MICHELLE RAN LIVED IN EAST FAIRCHILD HER FRESHMAN YEAR. ACCORDING TO HER, THE EXPERIENCE WAS A RATHER PLEASANT ONE. 

[Michelle Ran] I feel like it was good, actually. Yeah, I feel like it really gave the college dorm experience. I didn’t need it to be that good, but it was.

SO HOW DID THESE STUDENTS TURN THEIR UNLUCKY HOUSING SITUATIONS INTO A GOOD EXPERIENCE? 

FOR QUIBALLO, SHE SAYS THINGS IMPROVED WITH TIME. 

[YQ] Go through the stages of grief. Start with your sadness, then do some bargaining. Then spend some time in that space, and know that it’s not going to be amazing for maybe the first few weeks. But then, after a while, you really just start to feel like it is your home. 

SOMETHING THAT DID HELP THOUGH WAS INTERIOR DESIGN.

[YQ] For about the first few weeks of just moving in, Annie and I spent a significant amount of time putting up fairy lights, putting up also LED lights, and also acquiring a rug and also acquiring many pillows and blankets. Somehow our room has just turned into a giant bed.

RAN SAYS THAT HER RESIDENTIAL EXPERIENCE IN EAST FAIRCHILD WAS DEFINED BY THE PEOPLE, AND THAT’S WHAT MADE IT GOOD. 

[MR] You don’t need to have best living conditions, I feel like, to make the most out of your time. Like, there’s a stronger sense of Community because everyone’s bonding over the trauma of living in the dorm. 

FOR LE, HIS APPRECIATION FOR HIS DORM GREW ONCE HE REALIZED THE UNIQUE PERKS OF HIS SITUATION. 

[KL] I lived in Willard last year. And Willard, which is beautiful – like the amenities are great and the bathrooms are so nice. Something I realized about Willard last is, I would come home pretty late at 10 or 11, and you would see your friends eating Fran’s. And you sit down, and you would talk and talk and talk and then it’d be 3 A.M. You would hang out, and you really don’t get to rest until you get into your room. And even then, I had a roommate. 

But then, I realized with Jones it’s late, and I’ve finished all my classes and studying and hanging out with friends, and I cross that street. I cross Sheridan from the rest of campus, and it’s just silent the whole way home. And I just come up, and I go into my room. It’s separate. Like my home is separate from everywhere else. 

NEXT YEAR, LE WILL BE AN RA IN WEST FAIRCHILD. HIS OUTLOOK IS OPTIMISTIC.

[KL] I think Jones is just an example of [how] you’ll be able to find something you love about almost any place you live in. They’re going to be things that you didn’t like about your freshman year residence hall that you won’t have in you second year residence hall. And you’ll be grateful for that just because you didn’t like those things. So, you know, there’s a bright side. 

TO THE FUTURE JONESIANS, FAIRCHILDREN, SARGENTS, BOBBERS OR ANYONE ELSE LOOKING TOWARDS A ROUGH HOUSING SITUATION, CHIN UP! 

AS SHOWN BY THESE THREE EXPERIENCES, YOUR RESIDENTIAL LIFE IS NOT DEFINED SOLELY BY THE AMENITIES OR THE LOCATION OF YOUR BUILDING. 

YOUR NEXT YEAR CAN BE GREAT. IT WILL BE GREAT. 

FOR WNUR NEWS, I’M MICHELLE HWANG.