My Freshman Dorm: Birnkrant

Hey y’all,

No matter what the college, one of the biggest questions/concerns freshman have are where they are going to live freshman year. Coming from Missouri, I literally had no idea about the dorm scene at USC or which one was “best” or whateva so I spent time googling the different dorms trying to figure out where I wanted to live. Fret no more, though, as the VSA’s are here to give you a raw, uncut look into the dorms that we lived in freshman year.

But first, watch this Harlem Shake video. Just kidding, it’s actually the new James Blake single, which you should bump as you read muh blog.

As I mentioned, I really had no idea what to expect from my freshman dorm. It turned out to be awesome, though, and extremely communal. I lived in the Birnkrant dorms, located on the north side of campus (picture later on). Birnkrant is a dorm with co-ed floors that is now a scholarship dorm, (although it wasn’t while I was there) and it was awesome because everyone left their doors open, making it easy to meet new people or just hang out with someone you might not no very well. Everyone was super friendly and open to meeting new people, which was great since I came from Missouri knowing next to nobody.

Birnkrant Angry Birdsssss

Adjusting to dorm life was definitely an experience since I had never shared a room with my siblings. However, my roommate turned out to be one of my best friends, and I still live with him to this day. Sharing a communal floor bathroom was also an adjustment, but it turned out to not be bad at all. USC housing keeps everything super clean and the bathrooms were big enough that I never had to wait for a shower.

Another great part about the dorms was that my RA was really cool and planned some fun events for our floor. Coming into college I had the perception that RA’s were like mini-police officers placed in the dorm by colleges to prevent fun (a tad extreme I know). However, this was absolutely not the case at all. My RA David was super tight and put on events such as a discounted viewing of the last Harry Potter movie on opening night as well as other various trips throughout LA.

The favorite thing about my dorm was the location and culture. The dorm was perfectly located on campus, right next to Leavey (the 24-hr library), the dining hall EVK, Trojan Grounds (a 24 hr coffee/convenience store), and right next to the awesome Mccarthy Quad.

Red pins are Birnkrant. North side of campus wadduppp.

My other favorite thing (yes I can have two favorite things) was the atmosphere and culture of Birnkrant. The dorm was always somewhere I could do homework and sleep but at the same time I could always find someone to go to the gym with, grab a meal with, or just chill with. There were a lot of different people coming from different backgrounds studying different things and it made my living experience very enjoyable and entertaining.

I’m not sure why we bought these pants or are looking like this…

My freshman dorm definitely shaped the rest of my time in college. The three guys in the picture above are currently my housemates, and I met some of my best friends in Birnkrant. While I’m biased towards Birnkrant, I know that many of other people had similar experiences with their dorm and wouldn’t trade it for the world.