Dorm Life
I’d say it is about time for a new post, seeing as it has been more than twenty days since my last. The biggest reason for my lack of posting would have to be the fact that I was preparing to move in to the University of Illinois. I had to buy a lot of things for my dorm room, and all of my belongings had to be boxed up and ready to move by August 19th.
Well, August 19th has come and gone and I have successfully transitioned into dorm life. The process was, for the most part, painless and much easier than I imagined. On move-in day, my family arrived at my dorm a bit before 9.00 am when it opened for new students to move in. The line was not very long, and almost immediately we had all my boxes out of the van and on a cart that would take it all up to the fourth floor where I now reside. From the initial act of taking my things out of the van to the final box being crushed, approximately an hour and a half passed, which was far faster than anything I had imagined. I was ready to live before 11.00 am.
My roommate arrived around 1.00 pm, so I had some time to walk around my floor and introduce myself to the guys I would be living with for the next few months. All of them appear to be really nice, but I am not sure how much I have in common with them. I have nothing against any of them, but I just don’t know how well I will connect with the majority of them.
Among the fifty-plus of us, there are probably five or six Koreans on the floor. I have talked to a few of them, and ??’d them on Cyworld. My lead-in question with most of them was “You are Korean, right?” followed by “Do you have Cyworld?”. I don’t know if they are more shocked by the fact that I am interested in Korea or the fact that I have a Cyworld account. They all seem cool, though. I will have to get into that Korean class so I can talk to them in Korean.
The bathrooms here are a mixed bag. The showers are far better than I imagined they would be. They are extremely private, with everything walled off. When you first enter the shower there is a room for you to change and leave your belongings in, and then there is another room (and I use room very liberally - since the showers are stalls, the rooms are more like compartments) for you to actually take a shower in. They are separated by a curtain. The only thing I the showers had was a mirror so I could shave in the shower and not have to bring a mirror with me. The toilets are a different story. Most of the doors do not lock properly, or have no lock at all. The toilet paper is horrendous, but that is expected. There are not enough well-placed soap dispensers by the sinks, and the only thing one can dry their hands with is a solitary air-dryer. There are no paper towels as I prefer, so I have taken to not drying my hands until I return to my room where I can dry them with a hand towel brought from home. I suppose one cannot have everything he wishes.
The food in the cafeteria is so-so. I have only eaten there twice, as we have had free meals elsewhere for a good many times. The selection of drinks is just okay, and the food itself is obviously mass produced and low-grade. The salad bar is where I have been finding food most often. Perhaps I will find a meal I enjoy, and look forward to that every month.
There is so much more I could write about, but I shall save that for another post, as this one has become a bit lengthy. Classes start on Wednesday, so there shall be a post on those, as well.