TEEN CENTER :: COLLEGE CENTER :: FRESHMAN JOURNAL

October 2002

A Blessing in Disguise
Life in 'Tower A'
Can Make You Cry--and Laugh

By Caitlin Noris
Special to The Wall Street Journal

I think a lot of incoming freshman are nervous about the idea of sharing a room with a stranger, using communal bathrooms, or constantly being surrounded by other people.  As a college freshman, privacy is about as hard to come by as steak in the cafeteria.  However, living so closely to dozens of other people is a blessing in disguise when you are trying to adjust to college life.

At the University of Pittsburgh, most of the freshmen who decide to live on campus end up in the Litchfield Towers.  The first of the towers, creativity called Tower A, is nineteen stories tall.  I live on one of the highest floors, blessed with a great view of the city and cursed with the burden of waiting for an elevator every morning. Thirty-nine girls share one bathroom, with five showers and ten toilets.  It sounds like we would be fighting over the showers in the morning, but we do not.  Everyone starts class at a different time, and in general the bathrooms are pretty empty, even in the mornings.

I choose to room with a friend from home, Lisette.  Many people told us we were making a huge mistake, and that we would positively hate each other by the time we had finished moving in our stuff. We heard horror stories of friends who chose to live together and ended up fighting all the time. Luckily, Lisette is a considerate person and a great friend.  We have become very close with six girls on our floor.  It is amazing how fast you will get close to the people around you, since you spend so much of your time together. We go to the library with one another for study groups, we eat together, some of us have classes together, and we go out at night as a group.

I know I feared being homesick, and I have been.  Certain moments tug at you and make you wish you were at home.  When I eat in the cafeteria, I miss my dad since he used to cook for me.  When I do my laundry, I miss my mom since she used to do it for me. I have sat in my bed and cried after talking to my parents. I even started to cry once after I saw a man walking his dog, and I was reminded of my dogs at home. But the truth is that everyone gets homesick.  There is always someone around who is willing to listen to you talk about it, and eventually it does get better.  There are so many distractions, like school work, parties, and club events. 

In the end, freshman housing is not necessarily a bad thing. Sure, you will have to share a bathroom with more people than you ever imagined possible, and you might be awakened at eight o’clock in the morning because someone is playing music too loud. You might go to wash your hands and find something strange looking in the bottom of the sink.  But then you’ll decide you want to go party on a Wednesday night and find ten other people willing to go with you. Or you’ll need a can opener and find one next door. There will always be someone to eat lunch with, and always someone to watch television with.  Freshman housing is like living with a wild, crazy family.  Sometimes they rub you the wrong way, but you’ll laugh about it later and love them even more for it.

Caitlin Noris, originally from Miami, Fla., is a freshman at the University of Pittsburgh. Her Freshman Journal will be updated periodically on the Classroom Edition Web site.