Ready or not, it’s time to start packing (if you haven’t already)! Move-in day is just around the corner, and as the collection of soon-to-be-transported items turns into a mountain in the corner of your house, you may begin to wonder just what it will be like.
Will I like my roommate? I hope my RA isn’t super weird. How do the laundry machines work again?
As a third-year Resident Advisor (RA) I understand your apprehension, but have no fear! Stay calm and read on as I reveal the real story behind the Residence Life rumors you may have heard.
My roommate and I were BEST friends.
While your older sibling or friend may tell you this, that doesn’t guarantee that your experience will be the same. You might hit it off with your roomies, but in most cases they may not become your new BFF. That is more than okay! You don’t have to hang out every minute and share all of your thoughts and feelings in order to be good roommates. At the end of the day, having a successful relationship with your roommate(s) is all about communication and compromise.
Sharing bathrooms is a nightmare.
I’ll admit, sharing a bathroom is not an ideal situation, but you would be surprised how it helps you to build community and feel connected to others on your floor! Community bathrooms are cleaned every weekday by the housekeeping staff, and nothing bonds you with another like brushing your teeth together in the morning!
It was so loud whenever I tried to nap or study.
Every residence hall on campus has standard quiet hours from 9 p.m .to 7 a.m. on weekdays and 1 a.m. to 7 a.m. on weekends. That means that during this time, you must be quiet and respect others in your community or the RAs may document you for a noise violation. In addition, there are 24-hour courtesy hours, which means at any point in time you can ask a fellow resident to quiet down and they should be respectful of your request.
The RAs love to get residents in trouble.
While documentation is an important part of every RAs job, I can say from experience that very few of us enjoy finding our residents in violation of the residence hall policies. It is a common misconception that RAs are the police of the building. The real story is quite the opposite. Most RAs take their job very seriously because they care about students and their success. Your RA is likely a wonderful resource who can connect you to faculty, events and organizations on campus that will you help you grow academically and as an individual.
As you can tell, residence life is full of opportunities that will help you to enhance your Ohio State experience! While the list above highlights some of the myths you may have heard, it doesn’t scratch the surface on all of the amazing aspects of living on campus! I encourage you to take advantage of the people, programming, support and free food (yes!) offered to you throughout this year, and to approach move-in day with excitement as you begin your journey at Ohio State.
