For those who have ever experienced the dorm life, it was pretty much a tough year or two. Don’t you agree?

Remember the feeling of first meeting your new roommate, a complete stranger you were forced to share your bubble with?

How about the cafeteria food; you have to miss the occasional bug found in the mash potatoes that forced you to eat only cereal for the remainder of the year.

Could we ever forget the long walks to the less than sparkling bathrooms?

Then there’s the people above who seem to be taking a stomp class close to midnight, every night.

With all that said, you may start thinking that dorm life is nothing but awful, however that is farthest from the truth. A few residents remind us why living in the dorms was so sweet…

Cassie Cervantes, a freshman child development major who lives on an all girls floor in Jenkins Hall, is big on the fact that she is always guaranteed a parking spot. “I always hear students complain about not enough parking, luckily living in the dorm that’s not something I have to deal with,” Cervantes said.

Freshman and criminal justice major Jamie Schloredt, couldn’t agree more with Cervantes, “Living in the dorms is great because I can just walk to class, and I never have to deal with traffic or commuters.”

Another advantage that only dorm life can provide is the convenience of living within walking distance to classes.

Freshman Rachel Miles literally wakes up 10 minutes before her class starts and is still always on time.

The best thing about living in the dorms is the convenience of being so close to classes and the campus restaurants, “With gas prices right now, it’s nice to be able to save money by walking to class and not driving to school everyday,” Miles said.

Okay, so having priority parking was a huge plus and nothing else can compare to the convenience of living in campus housing, so what else is there to miss when outside of the dorms?

Senior and communications major, Lindy Winkler looks back at her experience of living in the dorms a few years ago and agrees the parking was great and the convenience was awesome but what she misses the most was all the people she was able meet. ” It was so easy to meet people when I lived in the dorms, some of my best friends now are the people I met my freshmen year just hanging out in the cafeteria,” Winkler said.

So yes, there are some horrors about living in the dorms, the bugs, the dirty bathrooms and the thin walls. However, there are also aspects that makes the first years of college memorable, the new friends you make, the gas money you save and by far the most essential, the guaranteed parking spot, absolutely priceless.

Send your dorm diaries to [email protected].

Jessica Rojo can be reached at [email protected].