By Josh Williams

When I think about horror movies, a few things come to mind: gross bugs that crawl almost everywhere; being trapped in a dark, broken elevator; and the ever-present stench of things unknown. If one or more of these thoughts frighten you as well, perhaps you should plan your next Halloween trip to a local dorm, where appliances infamously never work, scary people sometimes sleep in the same room, and a cold shower almost always awaits.

Although dorm life is not always scary, it can be a little hard to adjust to, especially if it’s your first year living on campus. You have to share a small living space with at least one other person, live in a lower quality building than some may be accustomed to, and deal with the everyday problems that arise from many unfamiliar people living in close quarters. However, it is not all that bad. If handled correctly, the experience can even be a little bit of fun.

When dealing with a roommate, the No. 1 rule to remember is patience. If you and your roommate are having difficulties adjusting to each other’s respective interests and habits, just be patient. Try to understand why he is acting a certain way. Perhaps the annoyingly loud music is not meant to be annoying. Instead, he is just used to studying with his favorite music on. If patience does not work, perhaps attempt to politely talk to your roommate about your issues. Maybe he did not know that he was annoying you. Now that you informed him that your study time is suffering, he may be willing to stop. If this does not work, attempt a compromise. Ask if your roommate will put in headphones. This way, you have your quiet study time and he can still listen to his music as loud as he would like.

Another issue when adjusting to dorm life is the lower quality standard of living. The fact that dorms are not the nicest places to live is no secret. Although many movies depict dorms worse than they actually are, the buildings may still be a little faulty. Keep in mind that it is hard to keep hundreds of students with different preferences happy at all times. However, when confronted with an unfortunate nonworking appliance, contact the housing department via the website louisville.edu/housing. There, you can fill out a form in which you describe the problem and allow the housing department to send a trained staff member to remedy the situation. I have contacted housing this way on multiple occasions. Each time, housing maintenance responded the next day and the problem was fixed in less than a week.

Lastly, the vast amount of new people who live in your dorm might be a bit intimidating. However, this introduces one of the fun aspects of dorm life, which is meeting new people. Try your best to be kind and respectful to all of the new people you come in contact with. It is a lot easier to live for an entire year with neighbors who like you rather than neighbors who intentionally try to get on your nerves because they do not. Plus, being nice and interacting with all of these new faces will offer opportunities to make new friends. With all of the people that live in your building, chances are there is at least one who has something in common with you. So get out and interact with all of the fresh faces.

Although dorm life can sometimes be scary, gritty and even nasty, it has the ability to be a fun learning experience. Try to make the best of it, as it will significantly improve your college experience.