Once out of the cramped living quarters of first-year dorms, many University students feel excited, enthusiastic and independent. With this newfound independence, however, may come some feelings of nervousness. Anxiety about choosing where and with whom to live often abounds -- and then choosing how to decorate a new apartment can also bring on feelings of anxiety.
Many students choose to decorate in a typically college manner, with hand-me-down sofas, big chairs and huge TVs, while others opt for up-scale pieces purchased at flea markets or garage sales. Some create the usual college stuff -- homemade beer pong tables, photo collages or the occasion mural.
Still others go for the intensely wacky, offbeat and always humorous homemade objects, adorning living rooms or bedrooms with pieces that only they could dream up.
Second-year College student Seiji Yamaguchi and his roommates built a jacuzzi in their Lambeth apartment's living room right after Winter Break. After having seen a description of the project on television their first year, they finally had some time over Break this year to embark on the adventurous project.
They built the jacuzzi in a rather sophisticated manner, pumping heated water through a large pump into an inflatable pool. When Seiji and his friends were met with cries of disbelief and lack of faith from their peers, they went ahead with the project for fun, and importantly, to prove others wrong.
"We had a party the day we built it and put a big table in the middle of the inflatable pool for cards, put on our bathing suits, and got in," Yamaguchi said. "Everyone was shocked, but it was cool to be in a pool, even though it was an inflatable one, in the middle of the winter."
Building something as unusual as Seiji and his roommates' inflatable pool shocked some onlookers.
Second-year College student Colleen Berry said she "got an instant message that Seiji and his friends were having a party and I went over" to his apartment.
"I didn't know what to expect and I was totally surprised," Berry said. "It was the middle of winter and there were people in the pool dressed in their bathing suits, while I was in a sweater, scarf and a big coat -- I felt completely out of place! All the kids at the party were like, 'Close the door! Close the door!' so that the heat wouldn't escape."
Other University students have constructed things that are perhaps more functional than a jacuzzi.
Second-year College student Doug Williams and his dad built a loft for his room one weekend. The loft, which is high enough to provide room for storage, a closet and a desk down below, also makes Williams' room appear to have two floors. Williams' friends also have decorated the loft, giving it a personalized feel.
"My dad had a loft like this one in college and encouraged me to build one in my room, too," Williams said. "We bought supplies for it and built it over the weekend before I got back to school; I guess my dad liked building it with me because we got to do something together."
Loft-bonding? Maybe, but either way, Williams and his dad constructed a project that could save him a lot of room in his small bedroom, much like the rest of the rooms in his house on 14th Street.
Second-year College student Ed Matthews, one of Williams' housemates, said their house's dimensions made the loft even more practical than it might be otherwise.
"Our rooms are really weirdly shaped, like mine has high walls and a triangle shape, so we have to be really creative as far as creating and arranging furniture," Matthews said.
Whether for creature comforts, bonding, entertainment or space making, adapting one's room is a creative way University students turn their rooms into homes.
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