On Aug. 29, my mother dropped me off at my new dorm. She left me with a hug and no money! I thought, “A hug isn’t going to pay for my tuition, books or food!” Still, I was excited to be at CSUN, and to live on my own.
Now, a month has passed and I sit alone in my room with my Ramen Chicken Noodles singing the lyrics to Akon’s song, “I’m So Lonely,” downing my Orange Drink that I purchased from the local 99 Cents Store.
I’m sure college students all over the world have experienced the, “I am free, but I can’t wait to go home!” emotion. Why is it that we are so excited to leave our parent’s house; the only place where we can get love, money, food, utilities, and laundry all for free!
Living in the dorms has been an adventure and has opened my eyes to many things. I never imagined waking up at 2 a.m. in the morning to the piercing sounds of a drunken Australian college student, swaying back and forth, holding an empty beer bottle in his hands singing about his hate for Germany as all of his friends stand around in a circle watching his every move. I usually open my bedroom window to scream, “Shut up! Nobody cares!” and he then looks up and begins his next cry, “America The Beautiful.” Although this incident is strange, it is somehow entertaining.
There are times when I even find myself doing strange things.
Singing Mariah Carey lyrics on the balcony, taking a trip to Target with no money, still managing to leave the store with three bags full of “I need this,” and listening to “My Hump” by the Black Eyed Peas on the way to my dorm are just a few.
Sometimes I even find myself at my neighbor’s dorm just sitting down looking at the wall. Then it finally hits me: I could sit down and look at the wall in my own dorm! For some odd reason, being bored with company is always better than being bored alone. Yet, I am still not happy.
Living in the dorms has made me miserable. I no longer desire the “college life”: Ramen Noodles, off-brand water, TV Dinners and Chilis on a Friday night. I am tired of drunken college students vomiting in the hall, then waking up the next morning saying, “Wow, that’s gross. Who’d do such a thing?” Since when did quoting Dave Chappell become “cool?” Is he our modern day Shakespeare?
Although there is much to complain about, there is also much to celebrate. Thanks to the dorms, I have lost a total of three pounds! You may wonder how. Well, I am on the “Broke Phi Broke” diet, which includes one serving of Ramen Noodles, eight trips up three flights of stairs, eight glasses of Vons Sparkling Water, one glass of Orange Drink from the 99 Cents Store, and to top it off, four hours of sleep on my navy blue comforter that I purchased from our local Target. If you follow these steps, I guarantee you will lose a few pounds too.
When you finish reading this, I will still be broke, miserable and confused. I’ll still be alone in my room, singing about loneliness and counting the days I have left in this place called Bayberry Hall. But as I spoil in my own sadness, I have realized that college is a place of discovery.
I have discovered why we are so excited to leave home and just as excited to arrive home for holidays. In the famous words of Dorothy, from “The Wizard of Oz,” there’s no place like home-there’s no place like home.
Jacklyn Hampton can be reached at spotlight.sundial@csun.edu.
