Who knew that finding a place to live would be so difficult? My latest adventure, if you can call it that, has been the search for housing. One would think that this would be easy, but like everything else, it is as far away from easy as one could get.
Living in a box the size of a prison cell is not an option.
I have until Feb. 6 to accept my housing offer — a double in Bice. I have a couple of reservations about this scenario though. I would be living with five strangers, all of whom currently are first-year students and seem to be friends, and while being the odd one out was fun in elementary school, I’ve come to like the idea of being surrounded by my friends.
I requested a single room in Bice because of my insomnia-like lifestyle. I have not gotten a good night’s sleep in two years because I am such a light sleeper, and when it comes to falling asleep quickly, I rank last — my usual laying-awake-before-submerging-into-dreamland time is about an hour and a half. I have also been diagnosed with chronic sinus issues, which are no doubt caused at least in part by my lack of sleep. Needless to say, a single is the best option, but I would rather be tired all the time as I am now than live in Gooch-Dillard, so the jailhouse box will not work for me. If the distance were not enough of a problem by itself, the bathroom conditions would turn any hopeful renter away from Gooch-Dillard.
With the deadline to confirm quickly approaching and my efforts consistently falling short, I may in fact be stuck living with strangers next fall. I am planning on appealing the contract, hopefully switching into a single in either Bice or Lambeth and finally achieving one of my life’s goals: a healthy, habitual sleep pattern.
Lately, I have also been giving a lot of thought to living in the International Residential College. I have many friends who live there and love it, but the waitlist is still about 30 people long, so my chances are fairly slim. A major reason that I want to live in the IRC instead of off-Grounds is that I want to go abroad in the spring of 2010. The IRC would be an excellent step in immersion into international ideals, and living on-Grounds means that finding a replacement roommate to take over a lease is up to the Housing Division, not the individual student — something I am a huge fan of.
I suppose I am a tad bit behind in this arena, but I was not ready to make a commitment for next year last semester, although my rooming assignment this year has been pretty spectacular overall. All that I am asking for is a single room that comes with a big closet and that is close to the Architecture school and costs less than $800 a month. I have had no such luck. The real problem lies in the concept of time — a foreign concept for many, myself included, — and the crunch on time to fulfill administrative tasks seems to be weighing down on students everywhere. It is as though doing something weeks in advance is not enough, so steps must be taken months in advance and soon I am sure it will be years. We have school to worry about, and then add activities, then future housing, future employment, and internships for the summer — most of which have deadlines that have already passed. Since when did we become adults with lives and responsibilities outside of school? I receive too many e-mails a day and am awake for more hours of the day than I like to admit; if this is how busy I am now, what will life be like when I am out of college? Even still, I am in the lower tier as far as busy schedules go here at the University. I do not understand how people do it.
I know that the housing issue will be resolved and work itself out; I would just like it to happen sooner rather than later so that I have one less thing on my plate to worry about. I guess it is all relative — lacking sleep or lacking a place to live — and I know that some people really do have to face those obstacles. Maybe I am sick of feeling grateful for my privileged life when I know deep down I feel awful about it.
Ian’s column runs biweekly Thursdays. He can be reached at i.smith@cavalierdaily.com.
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