The Art of Complaining

 

I like to think of myself as a rather flexible person when it comes to adapting to my surroundings. Moving into a tiny dorm with no a/c seemed like something I could handle. However, what I didn't expect was the humidity in the room making things fall off my walls and the stickiness attract stink bugs. Now that's not to say I didn't come prepared. I came to school with a very large, oscillating fan as well as a desk fan to use while I’m studying. Unfortunately, as the year draws to an end, my large fan broke and I somehow seemed to have lost my tiny desk fan. Don't get me wrong, I love my dorm. The people are great and the food...well it does the job. But I’m having trouble defending it against my friends in the six pack as the year draws to a close and I have to lie like a starfish on our floor to not overheat. I strongly believe all dorms should have air conditioning. I understand the importance of living in a crappy dorm as a freshman as it definitely builds character. But next year I will be moving into my sorority house which doesn’t have air conditioning either. I would also like to take a moment to say that I have curly hair, like extremely curly hair. The humidity makes my hair virtually a mop. It seems to me that all these dorms are getting renovations, from a new basement study area, to the addition of an elevator. It may be selfish, but I think the first improvement dorms should make is the addition of air conditioning. I don’t know how I’m going to make it next year. Another thing to add, my father went to the University of Illinois and he lived in Allen hall as well. If I even lightly mention something that goes against his beloved freshman year dorm, I get a speech about how “today's students have it easy” and how when he went to school he had to walk uphill both ways. I digress, complaining to my parents is not an option and complaining to students in other dorms would be admitting defeat in the fact that my dorm is not the undisputed best one. The solution: I need to rally students and other staff members that are in the same sticky situation as myself. I understand this is definitely a first world problem and I am incredibly happy I don’t live in one of those dorms that are rumored to have a spider problem (Taft Van Doren in case you were wondering). But stink bugs are gross too. Now I’m not saying i need one of those fancy air conditioning systems that you control from inside the room, box units sound perfect. What people fail to understand is the difficulty it is to study in an environment where you are so uncomfortable. I regularly have to leave my dorm to find cool places to study. I am writing this from a starbucks to give you context. There's only so many times a week I can drink an iced chai tea latte before I really start wishing I could study in my dorm.Overall, I really like my dorm and I’m looking forward to living in my sorority house next year, despite the lack of air conditioning. But I think lots of students and staff would benefit from the addition of air conditioning, despite the cost. I know I don’t know much about the Universities allocations of funds, but I would like to think my tuition could definitely help support the addition of some window units… or at least a couple of overhead fans maybe?