About a week ago, I ended my two-year tenure in Allen Residence Hall, one of the University’s eight residence halls. Admittedly, I was relieved to finally move into a place with my own room and a non-communal shower. But there are things I’ll miss about the dorms, too – especially stumbling half-awake down the stairs and filling up a plate with food, no effort involved.

Whether you live in Illinois Street Residence halls or the University’s Private Certified Housing, like Bromley Hall, dorm life is a big adjustment from living at home. Here’s what I learned from my time in Allen.

Dining hall food can be surprisingly good.

OK, so it’s not all gourmet-great, and you might eat your share of rubbery chicken and rock-hard dinner rolls, but for convenience, the dining hall is hard to beat. With more dining halls now open until midnight, it’s easy to find a place to grab a quick bite, and for herbivores, there are quite a few vegetarian and vegan options available. In my case, the dining halls gave me the opportunity to try myriad new foods. I’d never tried quinoa, tofu or even German chocolate cake before my time in the dorms. I’d never experienced the culinary consummation that is a warm, soft dinner roll slathered in sweet cranberry butter. As a bonus, the University’s creation of a smartphone app, UI Dining, has made it easy to find out which dining halls are open and which are stocked with your cravings. Get out there, swipe your i-card and stuff your face.

Obvious as it may be, always be nice to your roommate.

I count myself as being fairly lucky in terms of the roommates who were randomly assigned to me. It’s not always easy to be enamored with the person you’re sharing a 12-feet-by-10-feet room with, especially if they have bizarre sleeping patterns and make coffee at all hours of the night (sorry, past roommates). Luckily, my roommates and I usually had a very pleasant relationship, which I credit to a few things. For one, we almost never touched one another’s stuff; it’s easy to feel hostile toward your roommate if they just ate the last of your care package from Mom and borrow your favorite jeans without asking. It also helped that we didn’t talk much. This may seem counter-intuitive, but the truth is that not many people are BFFs with their roommates, and you don’t need to be. In my case, I’m very introverted and enjoy having my own space and privacy. Having like-minded roommates helped a lot. If you hit it off and love hanging out and talking together, that’s great. If not, courtesy, understanding and respect go a long way to make sure that your cohabitation is enjoyable.

Please, please clean up after yourself.      

Whether it’s in your room, the dining hall, the bathroom or the library, please, do us all a favor and clean up after yourself. Having worked at a fast food restaurant before, I wasn’t too surprised at the messes left in the dining halls. Though it probably doesn’t need to be said, leave your mashed-potato-and-gravy-smeared plate on your table, loaded up with dirty napkins and other bits of food. The people cleaning up the dining halls are your roommates, friends and fellow students. Do them a solid and put your trash, silverware and plates where they belong. The same goes for dorm rooms, the library and especially the bathroom. Last semester, a resident adviser on my floor had to make public service announcements to hang in each stall in the girl’s bathroom asking residents to flush – “Pleasies, flush your feces” was my personal favorite – because it became such a problem. Pleasies, don’t be that person.  

Find out what your dorm offers and get involved.

Quad Day may be thought of as the best way to get involved and meet people, but the dorms actually offer these same opportunities. My former home Allen, for instance, had clubs for everything ranging from baking to learning American Sign Language and even listening to the radio show “This American Life.” There are also events, volunteer opportunities and even classes offered by and hosted in different residence halls. Find out what’s going on and try out the things that interest you; you might just find a new favorite hobby or a new best friend.

Lauren is a junior in Media. She can be reached at [email protected].