A lot of people would probably be surprised to hear that I loved living in a dorm my freshman year. It was definitely a huge part of what made my experience at USC so much fun.
I had the opportunity to live in Birnkrant AKA Birnkrant Residential College AKA BK. Birnkrant is right next to the dining hall EVK and Leavey Library in the north area of campus. It also is home to TroGro (Trojan Grounds) – which houses a Starbucks. As a Seattleite with frequent caffeine cravings, this was definitely one of my favorite parts of living in Birnkrant. Birnkrant is a typical residence hall – communal bathrooms, communal laundry, etc. But it was fun (for a year).
My dorm!
My Birnkrant experience was also influenced by the fact that I lived in a triple (a space meant for four people, really but only three lived in). So in one room we had a futon, a TV, all our desks, and the microwave/fridge units while the other room had our beds, dressers, and closets. It was really nice because in most dorms you don’t have a separation of work space or hanging out space and your bed, but in the triple I did.
And one of the best perks of Birnkrant was free dinners that you could sign up for every month that Stan – the live in professor – would host at different restaurants. I went to Soi 7, a Thai restaurant, downtown for the cost of using the metro. By far one of the best experiences Birnkrant offers.
But really, like everything in life, my dorm experience was made by the people living in the dorm. Like most freshmen, my first friends were in my dorm. I was lucky enough to find friends who are the same major as me, and they’re still the people I study with. Now we have to walk a little farther than up or down a flight of stairs to study (a block or two at most), but it all started because we lived in the same dorm. One of my favorite moments was sitting on my futon watching The Bachelor (for the first time) while the other people on my floor passed around Oreos and the jar of Nutella and Cheez-its. Moments like that were really what made my BK experience.
