Living in PAHRC-side!

It seems like just yesterday that I was moving into my freshman dorm! My freshman year, I lived at Parkside Arts & Humanities Residential College (PAHRC – get it now?). I lived in an 8-person suite with 7 other great suite mates. I also had a great roommate, and I still keep in contact with him and another one of my suite mates.

The Parkside Arts & Humanities Residential College is located in the southwest area of campus. PAHRC is located next to Parkside Apartments, International Residential College, and Parkside Cafeteria. It is also near Ronald Tutor Hall (the “home base” building for the Viterbi School of Engineering), other engineering buildings, and the Fisher Museum of Art. If you walk off campus, you can easily access many different parts of Los Angeles from the Metro Expo Line stop. Exposition Park is also right across the street, which is home to the California Science Center, the Natural History Museum, and the Coliseum, where the USC Trojan football team plays their home games!

I have so many great memories when thinking about my freshman year living in Parkside. The guys in my suite became pretty close, and we would often go grab dinner together and hang out in the suite together on the weekends. My favorite memory from my freshman year in the suite was crowding into one room and watching the Super Bowl together, while scarfing down a TON of food. We would also have a lot of fun playing NBA 2K11 and Call of Duty in our free time. I felt like the suite environment was nice because it still provided a traditional 2 person room experience, with a benefit of having a roommate, while also creating a level of isolation from the outside world by living together in a small 8 person community. I also really enjoyed having a bathroom private to that suite. Finally, it didn’t hurt being a 2 minute walk away from Parkside cafeteria…

Since freshmen year, I lived in different apartments around campus. My sophomore year, I lived in Troy East Apartments, which is a USC owned apartment complex located just a short distance off of campus. I enjoyed living there, as it was close to campus and the grocery store. My apartment also had a balcony, which I can’t complain about. I was not sure initially how I was going to feel about having to cook my own food. However, I really latched onto cooking and have enjoyed it since :).

My junior and senior year, I have lived in different off-campus apartments. I have enjoyed living in an apartment, taking on responsibilities you would not encounter in a dorm-style living situation. I think of it as housekeeping, on a smaller scale. I figure these skills will come in handy someday.

As much as I enjoy living on and around USC’s campus, I am eager to move on to the next chapter of my life, taking these great memories of my undergraduate years wherever I end up!