Back in September, when it was still warm and everyone asked, "How was your summer?" at least 200 times a day, I was also asked, "Where are you living this year?" When I answered, "the Mosaic House," most people just looked at me, dumbfounded. Now, December is upon us, and people are still asking, "Mosaic House, where's that?"
I'll tell you.
The Mosaic House (or MoHo as we like to call it) is on Sprigg Lane, across from Alumni Hall and behind the more visible buildings of the International Residential College. Technically, MoHo is a part of the IRC, though it is different since it is student-run. A student governing board presides over MoHo, and residents decide the House's activities, rules (beyond normal housing regulations) and even the coming year's residents.
The layout of the house is also unique. MoHo is a combination of a hall and suite-style scheme. There are two floors, with two suites per floor, one on each end of the hall. Residential rooms are located in each of the four suites, as well as in the hall areas connecting them. Each suite is painted in a different color, and each suite's lounge area has a specific purpose or theme. The Chill Suite (blue) is a place to hang out, the Art Suite (red) was a place to display resident art until the fire code regulations became too much to bear, the Entertainment Suite (lime green) houses the TV and video games, and the Library Suite (purple) is a quieter option for studying.
I live in the Chill Suite, which in previous years was a quiet, relatively unused space. Now, thanks to its most excellent inhabitants, this suite has become the place to be in MoHo. Spontaneous card games, late-night gossiping and pretend studying are just a few of the Chill Suite's regular activities.
After living in Lambeth last year, I came to Mosaic House just a little disillusioned with University housing. I had been disappointed with the lack of interpersonal contact between Lambeth residents, and I missed the continuous interaction I had in my first-year dorm. In MoHo, however, I have found the close-knit community that I failed to find in Lambeth. In reality, what I got when I came to MoHo was something like a family, an extremely diverse and dysfunctional one, but a family nonetheless.
Like siblings, we struggle with bathroom usage in the mornings. After that last snooze-button cycle, it is a race between me, my roommate and another suitemate, Bill Hunt, to see who will get to the bathroom first. The winner takes his time in the bathroom, while the losers must either wait patiently, hoping they're not late to class, or find another bathroom.
Hunt, a graduate student in the English department, is actually a MoHo veteran of sorts. Having lived there as an undergraduate, he chose to return to MoHo after his two years away from the University.
"I loved the atmosphere of MoHo as an undergraduate and so I wanted that same atmosphere for my graduate experience as well," Hunt said. English majors in the house, including myself, see Hunt as a kind of older brother, able to provide useful tips about the English major, advice on which professors to take and how to survive certain particularly painful literary works.
Like any other living arrangement, active participation and interaction are important aspects of Mosaic House.MoHo, however, focuses not only on mere interaction, but on uniting people of diverse backgrounds together under one roof. With so many different people around all of the time, there is always something exciting going on, something to learn about, to laugh at and to discuss.
Third-year College student Ashley Lowe said she appreciates MoHo's diversity.
"I'd have to say that Mosaic House has probably been the best place to live out of all the places I've lived on Grounds," Lowe said. "It has the most diverse kinds of people who are all very friendly."
Through the MoHo application process -- in which current residents evaluate and choose applicants -- we look for people who will make a positive contribution to MoHo and who will make the house as diverse as possible. The house has people of a wide range of races, religions, nationalities, sexual orientations and political leanings, as well as students representing the College, Engineering, Education and Architecture schools.
In order to come together, we do a lot of activities as a house. Trips to the Tea Bazaar, attending plays, crashing parties, film screenings and discussions, and even a probable ski trip to Wintergreen, are just a few of the things we do together. The ladies of the house even threw a Mary Kay party several weeks ago.
In my opinion, however, it is the simple everyday interactions that have the greatest impact on our relationships with and understanding of each other. Fourth-year College student Ali Naini said he agrees with me.
"One of the best aspects of the house is the fact that I learn a lot from other people," Naini said. "But it's not like some formal activity. [We learn] through our informal everyday relationships. We hang out, we make fun of ourselves, we make fun of each other, we get food and chill. And that's the best part."
Despite MoHo's emphasis on diversity, its residents have definite similarities. For instance, almost every person in MoHo is involved with the arts in some way. Second-year College student Althea Loschky said she enjoys a living environment that is so full of creativity, albeit sometimes distracting.
"While Mosaic House may not be very conducive to studying habits, it's really awesome because everybody here is so talented," Loschky said. "There's just a niche for everybody because there's great writers, there's great martial artists, filmmakers, musicians, artists. It's just a huge group of really talented people, and it's always interesting."
Oftentimes, when trying to describe Mosaic House's unique atmosphere to my friends, I end up comparing to it Brown College. Third-year College student Anne Eschenroeder told me she does the same thing, but such a comparison seems inadequate.
MoHo "is very different from Brown in that there are 45 people, so you get to know everyone," Eschenroeder said. "The numbers aren't just overwhelming, and there are also communal spaces in the suites where you can congregate and spend time with each other, other than in rooms or in halls."
MoHo's mission statement is all about welcoming and being open to everyone. So far, I can honestly say that MoHo has lived up to its mission statement.Making friends with the people in the house is easy. Just open up the door to your room and people flock right in -- people asking for help with their Arabic homework, people wanting to listen to music, people announcing a late-night run to Little John's.
After two and a half years at the University, I think I've found my niche. When I was back in my hometown for Thanksgiving, I caught myself referring to Mosaic House as "home." I was surprised at first because I had never thought of Charlottesville or the University in that way before. Living in Mosaic House, however, changed that.
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