The Daily Illini: Spring Housing Guide

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The Daily Illini’s

Housing Guide Tuesday, February 5, 2013

What you study and where you live

What does it take to be a good RA?

Match your dorm to your personality

Whether you study business or engineering, art or English, there’s a dorm for you

Different residents weigh in on what they want to see in a resident adviser

There’s a place to live for wallflowers and party animals if you know where to look

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Tuesday, February 5, 2013

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Tuesday, February 5, 2013

DAILY ILLINI FILE PHOTO

Choose where you live based on what you study Important to know what academic buildings are near University, private residence halls BY JOLIE HUANG STAFF WRITER

While searching for a place to live, there are many things to take into account — your major being one of them. Here is a list of where to live based on what you study.

Business Majors: Illini Tower — This location is ideal because it takes 10 minutes or less to get to any of the business buildings. Jong Min Kim, sophomore in Business and resident at Illini Tower, said, “It’s really convenient. I roll out of bed 20 minutes before my accounting class and I still get there early.” The extra money you have to pay for this private housing may be worth it for business students. Ikenberry Commons — For upperclassmen interested in dorm life, Ikenberry Commons is another option that is relatively close for business majors. It takes approximately five minutes to walk to the Business Instructional Facility. Coupled with a social atmosphere and the nearby Ikenberry Dining Hall, this is a possibility that all business majors will appreciate.

Engineers: Illinois Street Residence Hall — Many engineers who choose dorm life live in ISR, partly because it is one of the closest dorms to the engineering buildings. ISR’s northerly location makes the walk about 10 minutes, much better compared to the 20 minutes it would normally take to walk from other dorms. There are also bus stops right outside ISR that go straight to the engineering buildings. This dorm is the perfect atmosphere for engineers who want to be able to collaborate with one another. Hendrick House — This private certified housing option is close to the Engineering

Quad and is about the same distance away as ISR. Equipped with farm-grown dining hall food and housekeeping, this location is perfect for engineers who are willing to pay extra for better amenities.

Liberal Arts and Sciences students: St. John’s Newman Hall — Classes for many LAS students tend to be spread out around or near the quad. Newman Hall is just a threeminute walk to the quad and a five-minute walk to Green Street. Though this hall is attached to St. John’s Catholic Church, not all students who live there are Catholic. They choose the hall simply for its location and friendly atmosphere. Complete with its own dining hall, this is a private housing option all students can consider.

Music, Art and Dance Majors: Allen Hall — This dorm boasts one of the most creative communities on campus. Though the location is a longer walk to some art buildings, the environment is perfect for any artistic mind. This dorm has arts faculty and even studios ranging from a darkroom to an electronic music lab. Felisha Gonzalez, freshman in Media, said, “I love the resources that are offered here at Allen. I don’t think anyone else on campus can say they have access to art classes in their own dorms. It really lets me be creative whenever I want.” Busey-Evans — For those majoring in the arts, this all-girls dorm is located across from music building and a block away from the dance studio. Though it is a long walk away from some art buildings, the nearby array of restaurants, as well as the shows put on by the Krannert Center across the street, make up for it.

Jolie can be reached at features@dailyillini.com.

Tuesday, February 5, 2013

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eing a tenant means things could go beyond your control, leaving you at the mercy of your landlord to make any necessary repairs and maintain your living space. Ceiling leaks, mold, bedbugs, the sprinkler system ... sometimes resolving these issues with the landlord can be an exhausting task. What’s more, students should stay watchful of safety alerts around the neighborhood. The following suggestions could be helpful in making sure you are living in a safe and habitable environment. Before signing a lease, check out the website crimereports.com. The site allows you to type in the address of the apartment and view past crime reports around the neighborhood. The Tenant Union on the third floor of the Illini Union could also be helpful in deciding whom to lease from. The Union keeps record of all the complaints filed against different landlords at their office. Before signing, you can walk in to check the complaint record of your future landlord. The record serves as a reference to help you know more about your landlord and how they handle the repair and maintenance requests from other tenants. You can even look up who ranks top in number of complaints. The cities of Urbana and Champaign help conduct similar but different procedures for housing inspections. Urbana requires all rental houses to be registered under the city’s Rental Registration and Inspection Program. A cur-

rent list of rental inspection grades is available on Urbana’s website. It can be a good reference when choosing a house or apartment, and you can contact John Schneider, the city’s building safety manager for inquiry. In Champaign, however, if the landlord fails to respond to your repair or maintenance request, you can “request an inspection of the inside of the apartment and the outside public areas of the property,� according to the Neighborhood Service Department in Champaign. “Property owners are given a limited amount of time to correct the violations. If corrections are not made, the property owner is subject to legal action.� A typical lease won’t cover any loss against theft. Buying renter’s insurance is a good way to deal with that, putting you back as little as $9 per month. Make sure to distinguish the difference between cover of “replacement cost� and “cash value.� Say you bought a laptop a year ago for $1,000 and it got stolen, under “replacement cost� the price will be fully compensated, while “cash value� would only cover the value after depreciation, which is a lot less. “We counsel students when they are in here, getting a lease reviewed,� said Rebecca Hartmann, director of Community Life and Tenant Services at the Tenant Union. “We also talk to them about renter’s insurance, and how that’s a really great way to replace their stolen items.� Unfortunately, no matter what happens, you are most likely bounded by that one-year contract. So stay vigilant and take everything into consideration before putting your name on a lease, especially issues regarding a safe living environment.

Xing is a graduate student in Media and can be reached at xzhuo2@dailyillini.com.

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Tuesday, February 5, 2013

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Know when roommate problems get to be too much with your own life. Sometimes keeping your distance can allow for more honest communication, in that it is often easier to tell someone to clean up her mess or pay you back for something if a friendship is not on the line. If your roommate problems create too hostile a living environment for you, pack up and move out. Sacrificing your mental health to work on a relationship that is clearly not working may seem like taking the high road, but you have to do what is best for you. Attempting to work on a healthy relationship with someone who is clearly not putting in as much effort as you and who does not care about your needs is a waste of energy. Perhaps you and your roommate can cultivate a relationship outside of living together. If you began rooming as friends, there is no reason to feel guilty about moving out or finding a new roommate. If your roommate is truly your friend, he or she will understand that the living environment that the two of you created was detrimental to your mental state and distracting to you. Living with other people can be uncomfortable, but it should not be unbearable. Never be afraid to speak up for yourself and take charge of your home here on campus.

HANNAH BOLLMAN Staff writer

#

RoommateProblems has become a regular complaint of college students everywhere, yet actually dealing with roommate-related problems can be challenging and distracting. If your roommate problems go deeper than a disagreement about loud music or whose turn it is to vacuum, you may have to actually deal with things like real adults. In any relationship, roomies included, communication is key. The first step in working on your shared issues is talking about them. Each roommate should communicate their grievances and suggest ways in which the other can make the living situation more comfortable. This can be awkward or difficult, but it’s important to remember that not everyone is going to be best friends with his or her roommate. Though living together often creates a close bond between people, it can also complicate relationships. If talking does nothing to fix the living situation, it’s best to keep out of each other’s way, continue respecting each other’s property and privacy, and carry on

Hannah can be reached at hbollma2@dailyillini.com.

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Tuesday, February 5, 2013

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Can’t find a roommate? Maybe fly solo Increased time to study, more freedom and nudity are benefits of living alone ELIOT SILL Staff writer

If

neglecting my housing needs for two entire semester, I found an apartment on Fourth and Chalmers streets with water, electricity and Internet included and a nine-month lease. If the notion of finding a perfect place to live that accommodates you and your friends’ obsessive-compulsive desires seems a tad daunting, feel free to leave them all hanging and find an apartment by yourself. Consider the benefits.

Your apartment becomes a study cave

you haven’t nailed down your housing for next year by this point, your options are becoming more limited as you read this. Which is fine. Don’t panic. Keep reading. Collaborating with friends can be a pain in the buns and can be the first step toward drowning your friendships in tension and passive aggressiveness. Or maybe you’re holding out on your older sibling who’s thinking of living in Chambana to room with you. It’s a great plan, seeing as how you were able to get your homework done every day living with them in high school. Or maybe you hate all your friends. Or they hate you. Or you don’t have any. Whatever. All I know is that after

Instead of a social hub, there’s very little to do at your apartment beside study and make food — come on, you couldn’t be reading for class right now? So make some ramen and crack open your textbooks because no one is there to call you a nerd. Don’t even pack a TV because your friends have cable at their apartment and any sports you want to watch stream illegally on the Internet anyway.

Go crazy AND avoid judgment! Plastered on the walls of my little apartment are Post-it Notes with little motivational phrases, story ideas, memorable quotes and other random musings.

Anything interesting, I pin up on my massive pinboard (note: that’s a physical pinboard, not Pinterest). Want to wear nothing but underwear for an entire Saturday? Great! Want to wear less? Go for it. You’re all by yourself. There’s no one there to judge you.

You don’t feel THAT lonely No matter what you do in the year 2013, it’s damn near impossible to feel lonely or isolated if you have the Internet. You can be on Facebook whenever you want. You can Skype without annoying your roommate. You can talk to people on the phone like how they used to do in the ’00s. If you find it that hard to make a connection with someone through any of the various forms of telecommunication, you can get off your bum and go out. Living alone actually makes me go out more and be more productive when I’m not going out.

Did I mention no roommates? OK, I totally mentioned no roommates, but what comes with that: no obnoxious snoring, no coming home drunk at 2:30 a.m. the night before your midterm, no arguing over who takes out trash, does dishes, cleans or supplies the bathrooms, no boyfriend/girlfriend problems, no obnoxious Skyping or any of the general stuff that makes you wish your roommate would temporarily disappear.

Stressed about finding the perfect place to live with the perfect roommates? Screw it; live alone.

If you don’t notice this now, you definitely will when you hear all your friends complaining about things you simply don’t have to worry about. This is because you’ll live alone. You’ll be

independent. Stressed about finding the perfect place to live with the perfect roommates? Screw it; live alone.

Eliot is a junior in Media and can be reached at sill2@dailyillini.com.

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Tuesday, February 5, 2013

Being available for residents, not going overboard are keys to being a good RA BY BAILEY BRYANT STAFF WRITER

They’re the ones who spend their nights awake in the bathroom caring for sick residents. They can be found on every floor of every residence hall, the doors of their rooms distinguishable by several glittery signs monogrammed with their names. They are resident advisers. The University of Illinois website describes an RA as a person who “serves as a role model and resource person in assisting students in their education, personal growth, and sense of belonging and safety,� but not all RAs fit the bill. Some students apply for the position only to receive the perks — free room, board and food and a monthly stipend of $100 — without realizing the responsibility that comes with the position. Resident advisers are expected to stay in their dorm room almost every night, attend weekly meetings and plan floor activities. They must be greatly

accessible to students and are respon- lot of RAs overstep their boundaries. “I think a lot of people try to be the sible for informing student of fire and storm procedures, as well as being boss. I’m just friends with my guys,� knowledgeable enough to Moy said. answer residents’ generInstead of indepenal questions. dently planning floor But being an RA is activities and expectmore than just following ing his residents to a set of technical rules. attend, Moy said he Jeff Foote, freshman prefers to let them plan in DGS, said he thinks a events themselves. Moy good RA, like his, falls goes with the flow and somewhere in between attends. He also added that RAs should be orgaa recluse and an overnized with good time ly social parent figure. Foote said the best RAs management skills. are personable, relaxed Moy said it’s difficult and understanding. to know what one should “I think a good RA is be prepared for as an JEFF FOOTE, someone who you can go RA, and experience is freshman in DGS to when you need them the best teacher. but doesn’t go overboard “There’s no rulebook for this job,� Moy saod. “You kind of planning events,� Foote said. Elliott Moy, sophomore in DGS and have to be prepared for everything RA in Babcock Hall, agrees. He said a because bad things are going to happen.�

“I think a good RA is someone who you can go to when you need them, but doesn’t go overboard planning events.�

Lara Robeznieks, junior in LAS and RA in Saunders Hall, also advocated preparation for the unforeseen. “You have to be ready to play a lot of different roles as an RA, like sometimes you have to be the nurturing mother feature, sometimes you’re an authority figure, and sometimes you’re a friend,� Robeznieks said. “You have to be there to deal with anything your residents need you for.� Robeznieks said, finally, that an RA should be open, enthusiastic and passionate about their position and realize the effect they can have on their residents. “A lot of people come into college not knowing anyone, and they usually keep the friendships that they make in the first few days of their freshman year,� Robeznieks said. “I love that I’m able to help people do that.�

Bailey can be reached at bebryan2@ dailyillini.com.

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CAN I LIVE HERE? BY BECKY ZILIS STAFF WRITER

There are many things to consider when picking out an apartment, but the busy fall semester can make it hard to find time to take everything into account when signing a lease. If you have your eye on a future apartment, check to see how it measures up.

1. How many blocks away from Green Street is the apartment? a. I’d basically be living in Chipotle. b. About two blocks away from the Green Street necessities. c. I could almost walk to Green Street without getting frostbitten in the winter. d. I would not be within walking distance.

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a. It has its own porch, perfectly lofted off of the ground. b. It shares a porch with neighbors. c. It doesn’t have one. d. The complex barely has windows.

3. How did you choose your roommates? a. I will be living with my best friends. b. I met my roommates through mutual interests. (e.g., class, Greek affiliation, etc.) c. I found them with Craigslist. d. My roommates are completely random.

4. How close is the apartment to your classes? a. Waking up 10 minutes before class will be adequate. b. I would only catch the bus on my laziest of days. c. If I don’t catch the bus, then I probably won’t make it to class. d. I might need to purchase a car.

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5. How is the bedroom-tobathroom ratio looking? a. There’s an equal number of bedrooms and bathrooms. b. I’ll be sharing my bathroom with my cleanest roommate. c. There will be three people sharing the mirror. d. It will be comparable to communal bathrooms.

6. Does the apartment come with any physical perks? a. There will be stereos and wine coolers galore. b. A mounted HD TV is just about all I need. c. Its got a place to plug in my Xbox. d. I’ll be watching TV on my Smartphone.

7. When checking out your realtor’s history at the Tenant Union, you find ... a. Nothing but gold stars. b. The realtor has a good reputation. c. A moderate amount of complaints. d. There’s an entire shelf for the realtor’s complaints.

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Tuesday, February 5, 2013

answers:

If you answered mostly A’s: This apartment option is looking pretty swanky. Your realtor is basically Bill Gates and you are looking forward to rolling out of bed a few minutes before the bell tower chimes. Some of your friends might attempt to live on your couch. If you answered mostly B’s: It has some of the optimum perks and will probably cause you little stress in the upcoming year. You will probably be a primary party spot for your group of friends and can easily snag a bus to the Undergrad Library. If you answered mostly C’s: You might find yourself with more than a few issues with your choice of apartment, but it’s college, right? Don’t let a bad apartment ruin your year, especially if it means saving money. Put posters over the holes in the wall and decorate until you can’t decorate anymore. If you answered mostly D’s: Consider avoiding this option, even if it’s the cheapest. Hopefully you won’t need to add to the stack of complaints for your realtor. Good luck and stay strong. Becky can be reached at zilis1@dailyillini.com.

Tuesday, February 5, 2013

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11

Tuesday, February 5, 2013

Ditch Bob Marley poster, find what you like for a ‘baller’ room ALICE SMELYANSKY Staff writer

If

you’re a Bob Marley fan, that’s awesome. But displaying his face all over your dorm room walls? Not so awesome. Falling into the cliche dorm room decor trap can appear to be inevitable. After all, finding a “Keep Calm and Carry On” poster is not that difficult, and really, what’s so wrong with advertising your belief system? However, if you stray away from the decor found in about 10 other rooms on your floor, you might discover something that truly shows your personality (unless you’re actually an avid reggae-listening “Pulp Fiction” enthusiast who needs to be reminded of BP rules on a daily basis).

Step 1: Choose a color scheme. You want everything in your room to match, and deciding on a few main colors is the best way to ensure this. One of the easiest ways to set the mood in a room is deciding on a few accent colors. Rachel Cohen, freshman in DGS, did exactly this before moving in. “I always was looking forward from a very young age to decorating my dorm room,” Cohen said. “During high school I was looking at bedding, and then I found a green and pink floral design and went off of that.” From there, Cohen decided on a rug that highlighted her two main colors, green and pink, and continued to choose decor that fit the theme. Taylor Holmes, freshman in Education, also based her dorm decor off of a color scheme. The colors she chose for

her room inspired the art pieces she created for the walls as well.

Step 2: Don’t use a unilateral perspective. Just because you wouldn’t necessarily find something in the decoration aisle doesn’t mean it’s off-limits. In fact, objects like this are often what take your room out of the cliche dorm room category. One of Cohen’s favorite pieces in her room was actually her roommate’s. Though they may not actually be meant for a wall, Cohen’s roommate found black, circular designs to hang on the wall near her bed. On her side of the room, Cohen used a clothesline to hang up pictures of her family and friends. Kathleen Stark’s room also featured recycled pieces for decoration. Above the freshman in Media’s futon are two pictures. But these aren’t just ordinary paintings. Stark’s roommate used Photoshop to revitalize her old paintings. By posterizing them, she was able to achieve a completely different look.

Step 3: Find what you like. While this may appear obvious, it can get forgotten in the college-shopping frenzy. “Stick with something you like. Don’t just get a poster because you think everyone else will really like it,” Stark said. For roommates Ryan Johnson and Nick Schmidt, both freshmen in Business, this was not difficult. One day their suitemate put a picture of Shaq on his wall, and from then on, they decided they would start a trend of putting the face of an inspirational individual on their wall every day. Though they haven’t kept up with it as much as they’d like

PHOTO COURTESY OF KATHLEEN STARK

to, it’s what gives their room a “baller” personality. Schmidt’s favorite item in his room is the picture of Steve Urkel’s face. “He’s such a nerdy, but funny guy ... and when I see his face when I wake up in the morning, I’m just like, ‘I need to be the best that I can be,’” Schmidt said. “That’s just what I think when I think Steve Urkel.” No matter if it’s Urkel, Shaq or a color scheme that inspires your décor, don’t hesitate to fill your room with items that students on your floor might not have. And if Bob Marley truly is your icon, a poster or two isn’t a huge offense. But any more than that, you might want to give Hot Topic a call.

Alice is a freshman in Media and can be reached at smelyan2@ dailyillini.com.

Tuesday, February 5, 2013

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12

Different dorms each offer unique experiences SARAH SOENKE Staff writer

T

he dorms on this campus can take on different personalities. Between the stacked halls of nearly closet-sized rooms, communities form between coinhabitants and reputations emerge. I, as I assume many were, was clueless about this as a freshman. Housing options were stripped down to just a list of locations, hall facilities and the occasional living learning community title. The Six Pack shone like a landing strip for all incoming freshman wishing for social interaction. But after living for almost two years in University housing, I know better. I spent my freshman year living in an Allen Hall double, and now my sophomore year in a Hopkins Hall single. The two have been drastically different living situations. Allen Hall is known as the Unit One living learning community, housing 650 residents in a co-ed split of singles, doubles and triples. I paid an extra $200 in room and board for the uncountable hall facilities provided for its artsy aura: unique weekly clubs, music practice rooms, ceramics, photography and digital vid-

eo editing labs, free music lessons and an almost monthly guest-in-residence program. “Allen Notes” is a weekly schedule printed and posted throughout the hall just to keep track of it all. Some of my classes were located right in the building. The rooms were filled with the creative and their subsequent energy: writers, musicians, artists, thespians, dancers and the like. There wasn’t a moment’s thought of boredom while I lived there; Allen Hall doesn’t allow it. The hall was social, yes, but with an added agenda. I lived on the fourth floor “forgotten hallway” — located in the adjacent turn at the end of the building, surrounded by mostly international students who seemed to have an insatiable love for playing GameCube. Even though dominantly composed of freshman, like most halls are, the majority of people were busy throughout the day, so the small, familylike dining hall or the community’s numerous activities were where you would socialize. It was friendliness with a shared specific interest in creating. During the day, the halls would bubble over with underclassmen chatter, the flowing sounds of someone practicing for the next Coffeehouse or groups of people covering the hallway in beautiful decorations. At night, it would fall politely quiet. Because of a last-minute roommate fallout, I was thrown into a Hopkins Hall sin-

ZOEY GRANT THE DAILY ILLINI

gle for my second year, and it’s been quite a different year. As part of the Ikenberry Commons, Hopkins houses 468 residents in a co-split square of a building, allowing for tight-knit groups to form by floor. I felt relieved in the freedom of having a room to myself, but my Allen Hall net was gone.

Without constantly having some sort of activity offered, neighbors simply become close with their floor mates. But if Allen was the introverted artsy type, Hopkins is the extroverted jock. I have a single on the first floor, surrounded by nearly all out-ofstate female athletes, and I am astounded

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Tuesday, February 5, 2013

13

at the amount of energy these girls can exert throughout the day. While the RAs provide the occasional hall social gathering, social interaction is as simple as walking into your neighbors open door. It is friendliness for the sake of being friendly. When comparing the two though, or any other dorm for that matter, it really comes down to trade-offs. Allen Hall caters to more creative, activity-focused individuals, but Hopkins is for the socially vivacious. I had to put in more work to coordinate weekend night plans while at Allen, while in Hopkins it takes me less than five minutes to figure out where everyone’s going. Getting eight hours of sleep at Allen was as simple as going to bed at a reasonable hour, where at Hopkins I’ve come to rely on my noise-canceling headphones to mute out the relentless hoots and hollers of my neighboring party animals. I value the experience I’ve had at both halls, each having provided a uniquely different environment with its own pros and cons. It all depends on what you want to get out of your year in the dorms. I would encourage anyone willing to give housing a two-year try to change up your hall, even if your freshman living experience was a good one. While I cannot wait to live in my own apartment next year, I realize I’ll never live in University housing again. Students should learn from and experience the different vibrant communities this campus has to offer, and that starts by finding a hall personality that matches your own.

Sarah is a sophomore in Media and can be reached at soenke2@dailyillini.com.

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Healthy food choices can trim students’ waistlines ADLAI STEVENSON Staff writer

T

he Super Bowl is finished and no doubt the large amounts of food that lounged around dorms across the University Sunday night are now gone as well. Now, should students whip themselves back into shape after game day’s sacred binge? That’s for them to decide — but they can easily trim their waistlines by just replacing those pizza boxes and heat-ups with the food choices below. Keeping healthy snacks around living spaces can be easy.

Adlai is a freshman in Media and can be reached at aesteve2@dailyillini.com.

Air-Popped Popcorn

Unsalted Almonds

Granola Bars

In the last year, health studies have shown that particular types of popcorn can be just as healthy as most fruits and vegetables. Pinch yourself if you want, but this whole-grain snack packs higher levels of antioxidants than a lot of greens to help prevent diseases. But make sure to avoid movie theater popcorn and most microwave brands – these can be as unhealthy as a fast food burger.

Don’t let the level of fat calories fool you — almonds contain nutrients that enhance brain activity and increase energy so reading those tedious textbook pages can be finished quickly and with ease. A small bag is high in fiber and therefore much more filling than a large bag of chips.

Great for students who are always on the go, granola bars are great to satisfy stomachs that only have the chance to eat during opposite ends of the day. Like many of the foods above, they contain a lot of protein and fiber so that midnight cravings won’t be as common. Brands with additives like chocolate or extra flavoring are best to avoid because of excessive sugar and sodium levels.

Fruits and Vegetables

Low-Fat Yogurt

Sounds obvious enough, right? But these healthy foods, particularly apples and bananas, pack a lot of fiber to keep you full in between meals and can even serve as great late-night snacks so that students can stay energized while finishing up coursework that’s due in several hours.

Yogurt’s high level of protein provides students with an efficient snack to fill them up quickly and keep unnecessary pounds off. Bacteria such as acidophilus and bifidum are great ways to help digestive systems flow accordingly, especially when that last slice of pizza really didn’t need to be taken.

Tuesday, February 5, 2013

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“Pimp My Ride” has ceased to run episodes since 2007 and MTV Cribs is seldom heard of now, but the University’s Illinois Enactus is bringing it back with a twist. “Green My Crib” is Enactus’ campus initiative to promote positive impact on the environment through apartments. Through conversations with students, the group found discrepancies between students’ views about their impact on the environment and their environment-friendly actions. Many people have wanted to make decisions that are sustainable, but believe that it is too time-consuming or expensive. The Green My Crib project highlights that fact and informs students of the impact they can have. Unilever, a U.K.based consumer goods company, has been recently added as a corporate sponsor to this initiative. They will be giving many sustainable bathroom and cleaning products, as well as monetary donations to fund the materials to “green” the apartments. To kick off their project, Unilever will be “greening” three to five apartments on campus for free; this will include installing various products such as, LED light bulbs, water filters, power strips among other things. The University on the whole has been taking strides toward environmental sustainability. These strides include big projects, such as the Business Instructional Facility and smaller ones, like more recycling bins across campus. Christina Kohlmann, freshman in Business, said, “If the student population is ready to partner with the university and local business to going green, the environmental impact of this university as a whole will be reduced significantly.” If you want to “green” your apartment, check out Green My Crib’s Facebook page (https://www.facebook.com/ GreenMyCrib) or submit an application.

Rohaina can be reached at rhassa7@dailyillini.com.

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Tuesday, February 5, 2013

There’s nothing wrong with dorm life Even for upperclassmen, living in dorms has many advantages over living in an apartment or house STEPHANIE KIM Staff writer

As

I moved into the dorms and met different girls living on my floor, I quickly discovered that I was an outlier. As a junior among freshmen and sophomores, I felt like a mom trying to fit in with her daughter’s friends. That analogy may be a bit hyperbolic, but I couldn’t help but feel like I was going against the natural order of college life. There seems to be an unsaid rule about decisions regarding housing: You live in the dorms for your freshman and maybe sophomore year and then live in an apartment or house for the remaining years of your short-lived college career. This is just one of many ways to realize

the “college dream” of growing up. “It’s what most people do,” said Chirag Patil, freshman in Engineering. “By junior year, you have already settled in different classes and you become more of an adult. ... You start by managing your apartment and paying bills.” Other residents in my dormitory held onto this belief. “Moving out is the next step in independence,” said Hilary Lohman, sophomore in LAS. But Lohman also mentioned a positive for staying in the dorms. “I live in the dorms because most of my friends are in the dorms and you meet different people,” Lohman said. Like Lohman, most of my friends live in the dorms this year. In fact, some of them are my next-door neighbors, while the others live in the dorm across the street. There is a sense of community and nearness in the dorms that apartments often lack. With communal bathrooms and lounges and shared hallways, there’s

always time to make conversation with my floor girls, and the familiarity of faces is a nice thing to come back home to after a long day. However, if you put 40 different people on one floor, inconveniences and consequences are bound to come. Hair is left in the shower stalls. The air consists of a multitude of different smells, ranging from instant noodles to flowery perfume. And there isn’t a week that is free from pranks. Just this past week, one of the doors of a bathroom stall was unhinged and left in the middle floor lounge. I’m still trying to figure out the logic and physics behind this feat. But aside from this, and the higher costs of living, dorming is for me. Even if I feel like an outdated grandma at times, the dorm has its perks. Food is made ready and accessible without having to lift a finger. Good company is just a door away. Most importantly, you (can) only live once — in dorms, that is. And I intend to make the most of this opportunity before I graduate, when I’m forced to truly live in the real world.

Stephanie is a junior in Media and can be

There seems to be an unsaid rule about decisions regarding housing: You live in the dorms for your freshman and maybe sophomore year and then live in an apartment or house for the remaining years of your short-lived college career.

Tuesday, February 5, 2013

18

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Tuesday, February 5, 2013

19

Living in crowded apartment has positives, negatives Rent is cheaper, but rooms get a lot messier KELLY CHUIPEK Staff writer

W

hen my roommates and I were thinking about where we would live our senior year, one issue stood out to us. One of the five of us would be leaving campus second semester to travel home and student teach. While there are five-bedroom apartments available on campus, the question was, what would happen second semester? The two options we faced were trying to find a sublessee to take over that room, with the possibility of living with a stranger for our final semester, or my one roommate having to pay for a semester of rent when she wasn’t living on campus. After talking with friends, we were presented with a third option: have two of us share a room for a semester. Now, after living with five people in a four-bedroom apartment, I can say there are both positive and negative aspects to this choice.

1. Negative: Piles Probably the most difficult part of this living arrangement was for the two people sharing a room. That also means that these two girls had to share a closet, desk and dresser. Without enough storage, that meant having many piles around their room and the apartment. They made it work, but I have never seen a room get so messy. Additionally, they had to add a lofted bunk bed to the room so they would both have space to sleep. With different class schedules, it was like being back in the dorms and having to get used to sleeping through the roommates alarm clock. They were troupers and made it work for a whole semester.

Everyone felt a little ease on their wallet for a semester.

3. Negative: Packed fridge With five girls, space can be very tight in the apartment. We mostly realized how small the space was after the first grocery trip. There simply were not enough cabinets to fit everything. We added some extra shelves with bins to put dry foods like cereal and mac and cheese, and I brought a mini fridge to put in my room to help clear space in the fridge. Also, we started sharing things that take up a lot of fridge space, such as milk, eggs and orange juice. It just took a little creativity to make it all fit.

2. Positive: Split the bill

4. Positive: No randos

For the two roommates who split a room for the semester, this provided the economic benefit of splitting the rent. On-campus apartments can be expensive, so it made the total apartment much more affordable for both of these roommates. There were also benefits to the other apartment residents. Being able to split the cable and electric utilities between five people instead of four really adds up over a semester.

As I mentioned earlier, the main reason we wanted to fit five people into our apartment was so we would not have to live with a random subletter for our final semester on campus. While we are more than willing to make more friends, there are some people you just don’t want to live with. It would not have been as much fun to have a stranger living with us, so our choice made the most sense; we got to live with our best friends.

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5. Negative: You’ve got mail As our extra roommate was not technically on our lease, she also wasn’t on the mailbox and couldn’t have any of her mail sent to her own apartment. Thankfully she had her sorority house, which she could still use as an address, but it was something we didn’t even think about when making these plans. In addition, it was difficult for her to get an extra copy of the keys to the apartment made, as they are not supposed to be duplicated and only four keys came with it. Small difficulties like these were overlooked at first, but we found a way to make them work.

6. Positive: Full house It sounds simple, but the more people around, the more fun an apartment can be. With five people, it is almost impossible to ever be home alone or not have somebody to watch “The Bachelor� or to eat dinner with. The year before I lived in a three bedroom apartment, and if both of my roommates went home for a weekend, it felt very lonely. This fall, that was almost never the case. The overcrowded aspect meant that we all grew closer and made that many more memories together.

Kelly is a senior in LAS and can be reached at chuipek1@dailyillini.com.

TȽȨɨČ?É‘É•Ȩɜɴ É„Č˜ $ȾȾȨȽÉ„ȨÉ•

Tuesday, February 5, 2013

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20

Getting used to life in the residence halls Dorm life prepares students for life in the real world following graduation

room, but you don’t actually say anything because you want to seem like a cool, accepting person. Bottom line: Life is full of surprises. Whether it’s the good kind or the other kind, it’s important to face them headon and tackle what you can. If you keep an open mind, sometimes a nasty surprise can lead to an unexpectedly positive outcome.

3. Dining hall food cooked without love REEMA ABI-AKAR Staff writer

M

ost of us signed up to live in the dorms to take in the classic university experience: roommates, dining hall food, communal bathrooms and every other element featured in countless college movies. But we didn’t know that dorms serve as much more than a simple living place. There are key parallels between dorm life and life after college, also known as the much-feared “real world.” Since we’re not quite at that point in our lives yet, the most we can do is pay attention, take notes and keep our eyes peeled. We need to stay sensitive to any potential nuggets of wisdom that dorm life can reveal.

1. Living in a room roughly the size of a linen closet

I get it. Everyone misses their mother’s cooking, and everything else is just not the same. But think about it: Besides your mother herself, who makes the food mean so much more than just basic sustenance? The company of others. Friends can help fill the void left by your favorite homecooked meal. You might even say that a healthy lunch or dinner conversation is a recipe for success in the dorms. Bottom line: Don’t be shell-shocked by something different, assuming it won’t live up to your sky-high standards. Reality is about taking what you’ve been given and using it to your advantage. Go make some lemonade with those lemons!

4. Is that a spider in this shower or just a weird spot of paint? Shared dorm bathrooms. They sound about as attractive as your dog after he rolled around in some mysterious smelly substance. Over the months, you get used to seeing everyone in their towels, crossing paths to the sink, and complaining about stopped-up showers. Every so often, you wonder how many people, over the course of the dorm’s lifetime, have used each particular toilet. Then you stop thinking about it because you don’t actually want to know the answer. Bottom line: But where do you have some of the best (and possibly strangest) out-of-the-blue conversations? In the bathroom. So although some situations may not be very pleasant, there is always potential for some memorable chats in passing.

You might even say that a healthy lunch or dinner conversation is a recipe for success in the dorms.

This may be a tough one to come to terms with at first. Where will I put my 12-speaker stereo system? How will I align my collection of 100-plus classic Beanie Babies? And most importantly, where will I possibly fit my 9-by-6-foot poster of Nicolas Cage? The real world is hard. Life isn’t kind to those who own giant pictures of Nicolas Cage, and you might have to reassess your priorities if you do. Bottom line: Sometimes you have to let go of large parts of your past that drag you down. As life unfolds, you’ll have to make difficult choices about what to keep hold of and what to leave behind.

2. Roommates chosen by the lottery system Surprise! It’s your new roommate. This person has introduced you to strange music and even stranger sleeping habits. Nonetheless, you had never met them in your life, and now you both share close quarters with each other on a regular basis. You begin to question their sanity when they bring a live squirrel into the

Dorms serve us in many ways, but it’s not only as living places. We may not realize their potential for life lessons, which can come up often in this seemingly normal college environment. So every time you swipe your iCard, remember that there is more to be revealed within these dorm walls.

Reema is a sophomore in FAA and can be reached at abiakar2@dailyillini.com.

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Tuesday, February 5, 2013

21

Nine easy steps to help de-clutter your dorm room It’s hard to stick your stuff in tight space, so plan ahead, use vertical space wisely JULIA MARBACH Staff writer

W

hen it comes to college living quarters, the use of the word “spacious� is practically nonexistent. It’s so rare, in fact, that stores have entire lines devoted to dorm room living space, or lack thereof. With this in mind, here are a few spacesaving tricks to help make life a little easier for those struggling with how to fit all their belongings in the 10-by-10 space we call home.

Loft the beds: Using as much vertical space as possible is key to creating room in a crowded dorm. I mean, what are you going to use that air for anyway? By lofting beds, you open up so much room on the floor for

other furniture, like a desk and chair, or a small dresser.

Use ottomans that open up for storage: Whether you need a spot for socks because your drawers are overloaded, or just a place to put all the extra pencils, computer paper and highlighters, an ottoman is perfect for serving the double purpose of foot rest and junk drawer.

Hang shoe racks on closet doors: We all know dorm room closets aren’t exactly walk-ins, but there are ways to utilize these tiny compartments and make some lemonade out of, uh, oranges. The shoe rack is the classic, of course. Rather than having shoes spilled all over the floor or the room, save some space by putting them on the door, a space otherwise wasted.

Get over-the-bed shelving: Although many dorm rooms may not allow you to hammer and nail shelving

units in, you can always buy an over-thebed shelf with legs that reach the floor. This allows you to store anything from books to hats or pictures.

Multipurpose what you already have: A great way to save space is to get creative by assigning one piece of furniture more than one use. Take the fridge, for example. Why not use it as the base for your TV? This way, you get a two-in-one sort of deal and are applying the vertical space rule.

Use hanging shelves in the closet:

Use command hooks: In many dorms, they won’t allow you to hammer and nail the walls apart. But, you can always buy command hooks, which are made to stick on. These work well in the closet and the room itself for things like coats, book bags and towels. But be warned — make sure to get the appropriate sizes for what you plan to hang. Otherwise they will be dropping like cannons.

We’ve all seen them, and they work like a charm. Think about all that space underneath hanging clothes that goes to waste. By using hanging shelving, you make full use of every inch between the hanging rack and the floor. Plus, these shelves can store anything from clothes to shoes to books to toiletries.

Get vertical stacking containers:

Limit the amount of clothes:

Well, there you have it — a few easy ways to de-clutter the dorm room and feel like you can breathe a little easier.

Do you really need that 10-pound winter coat with you in August? Or that drawer of bikinis in January? One of the simplest ways to make room is pack appropriately and leave certain clothes

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at home when you know you won’t need them. It may seem small, but it will make a big difference.

These often plastic drawers act like a small portable dresser and work well for storing away anything you can think of. They even come apart so that you can adjust the height, stacking four on top of each other or two and two, your choice.

Julia is a senior in Media and can be reached at features@dailyillini.com.

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Communication is key to getting along with roommates HALEY JONES Staff writer

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veryone has a bad roommate story. It can range anywhere from the likings of the 2011 horror movie “The Roommate� to just your roommate being an obnoxiously loud snorer. Just living with someone in such an enclosed place can be challenge enough. I have compiled some of the most common roommate problem and provided ways to deal to them.

Your roommate always eats your food. If your food is kept in a common area like a shared fridge or cupboard, this problem could just be a misunderstanding. If boundaries were never set, your roommate might just think that what is yours is also his or hers. Maybe they think the close bond you’ve formed as roommates gives him or her the option to eat straight from your jar of Nutella. Step one is to sit them down and just have a conversation about how your Nutella — or any other precious food item — is on the nonsharing list. If the problem still persists, you will just have to put your food in an area that is strictly yours.

Your roommate borrows clothes without asking. Let’s just get it out in the open: You are fabulous and your clothes reflect that. Everyone wishes they could delve into your closet, but your roommate isn’t just wishing anymore. She is now wearing

your favorite dark wash jeans and your new cashmere sweater. The problem once again is they think since you are living together you are as close as siblings and asking is no longer necessary. Boundaries need to be set for this sticky-fingered roommate. Once again, sit them down and let them know that if they ask, you are fine with them borrowing anything. Anything, that is, except those adorable boots you just bought with the hard-earned savings from your minimum-wage summer job.

Your Roommate is party rocking the night before your 8 a.m. test. Remember it is a shared space, so let your roommate get wild and crazy on some nights of the week. It is understandable, however, that on the Sunday night before your 8 a.m. MCB final, you would like them to shut off whatever Skrillex song they are blasting at 3 a.m. Give your roommate a heads up about a day before that you are going to need some peace and quiet that night. It will be a lot easier to persuade them to change their plans if they have a 24-hour notice instead of trying to convince them to shut up after they are a few Keystones in. In most roommate disagreements, it’s best to sit them down right away and have a conversation instead of letting it stew and getting angry until you explode. The only exception is if they are trying to take your identity and your life. Then notify the authorities about the nut before it is too late. Otherwise, just be mature and talk it out. Most likely, they will be understanding of your needs.

Haley is a sophomore in Media and can be reached at hrjones2@dailyillini.com.

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