Hey everyone! This week I’m going to reminisce a little bit about my freshman dorm room. Even though I only lived there last year, it seems like such a long time ago!
My dorm room was in Birnkrant Residential College, which is the dorm building reserved for incoming freshman with merit scholarships. It’s located on the northeast corner of campus, where most of the traditional residence hall dorms are located. It’s right next door to Leavey Library and even has Trojan Grounds/Starbucks in the building, both of which are open 24 hours a day. On nice days, you’ll always see students out on McCarthy Quad throwing a frisbee or enjoying the sun.
McCarthy Quad with Leavey Library on the left and Birnkrant on the right.
One of the greatest parts about living at Birnkrant is that you’re part of the University Residential College, a program that is designed for scholars to enrich their education outside of the classroom. Some of the events include special dinners at great restaurants all over the city, trips to see various shows and concerts, and even a formal dance for our building held at a hotel nearby campus! We also got to move in a few days earlier than most freshman to take part in a retreat, where all the freshman scholars got to bond and attend events before campus got busy. One of the events was going to see Itzhak Perlman at the Hollywood Bowl.
And now to the important part – the room! Most of the rooms in Birnkrant are your typical double occupancy rooms where everyone gets a bed, a desk, a closet, and a dresser. The rooms also have mirrors, corkboard for decorations, and a mini fridge/microwave combo.
A staged dorm room – but this is pretty much what they look like!
The view of my closet from my bed, shortly after I moved in.
My bed and the decorations I put up.
In addition to the rooms, all students have access to a large shared bathroom, a laundry room, and a study room on each floor. Birnkrant is a pretty social dorm, and each of the floors usually become pretty close friends. The study room is one of the most popular places to hang out on the floor.
Our floor used our study room to have a Secret Santa Christmas celebration!
I couldn’t have picked a better place to live my freshman year of college. I made so many great friends who I’m still close with, and I even live with some of them! It really was the perfect balance between a place to study and a place to have fun.
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