My first Dorm Room!
Freshman year I lived in a dorm room in Birnkrant, which is right on McCarthy quad. I chose that dorm because I heard that it was social and the roommate that I found on the roommate matching that USC has wanted to live there. Now I believe Birnkrant has become an Honors Dorm but when I lived there it wasn’t. My roommate and I became fast friends and we loved hanging out with all the other girls on the floor. Also during welcome week, we enjoyed all the activities on McCarthy Quad.
McCarthy Quad: On Left, Leavey Library, on Right, Birnkrant!
At first I was worried because Birnkrant didn’t have air conditioning, but it actually didn’t turn out to be much of a problem. It was pretty hot for a couple days at the beginning and end of the year, but other than that I was fine with just a fan. I loved living in Birnkrant! Whenever people were home, their doors were open, so I made a lot of friends right away. Also, my RA was great and she planned lots of really fun events for us like floor dinners, trips to Knotts Berry Farm, and a trip to Disneyland! Within two days, I wasn’t feeling homesick at all because there were so many things to do and cool people to hang out with. I also liked Tuesday night dinners. Birnkrant would have a special Tuesday night dinner in the back room of EVK with special food and sometimes events or themes. The scholarship dinner was fun because I was able to invite my Physics professor and get to know him better, which led to him writing letters of recommendation for me later.
Christmas with my floormates!
My favorite part of living in Birnkrant was the location. Being in McCarthy Quad was great because there were so many things happening right outside my door all the time. So if I wanted to do something fun, I could go out there. And if I wanted to study, Leavey Library was only about 100 meters away. Also, Trojan Grounds, which is open 24/7 for food and coffee, was right under my room so if I was having a late night there was always a place to grab food.
Birnkrant Floor 2 at our first football game!
My freshman year was amazing, and a lot of that was because of the housing. There were so many fun events and I made great friends on my floor!
