A Dormitory or a Private Room

張貼日期：May 05, 2017 4:37:5 PM

Amy Chow

For most of us college students, the first night of college life is spent in a dormitory room, where the chamber is shared by several individuals from different places, after which our life is a completely different one from what we used to lead. As one of them, I used to be excited about living with my peers, while now, after over three years, I believe that living in separate rooms is a better lifestyle for us college students.

We have been fancying the fun to have a bunch of best friends hanging out together all day long since we were little. However, when the life-sharing dream does come true, it is not so rosy a picture. The first annoyance is that we almost have no privacy of our own. Every little thing, including some lapses we do will be witnessed and judged, forcing us to keep guarded even at the place for rest. I still remember the food-sharing issue. There were many times when I brought delicious snacks that were not enough for sharing with my seven roommates. If I ate alone, people would think I was dingy; if I shared with a few of them, the others would secretly think I was unfair to them. Thus, in these occasions, the snack time that was supposed to be “relaxing” had to disappear or had to be spent in some secluded corner outside my shelter.

The next nuisance is the endless noise. Sometimes when I had a deadline at night and had to work on a tough assignment, my roommates could be loud, gossiping about some trivial things or excitedly making a phone call with their boyfriends. I could never ask all of them to be quiet just out of my own interest. In dormitory, I can never dive into a book and study peacefully.

All of the discomfort generated by the above-mentioned inconvenience is enough to cause conflicts, not to mention the aftermath that would arise from the different living habits and personal characters. If the majority of the dorm residents prefer to get up late while you are an early bird, you will surely find yourself surrounded by “enemies” when you make even a little noise that awakes your sleeping friends. From my experience in high school, most of the conflicts and tension were caused by different time of sleeping and getting up, while it was impossible to make a group of different individuals to follow the exactly same pattern.

After living in dorms for a very short time, many a student tends to miss the old good time at home. In our private room, we can do whatever we like and don’t have to puzzle about whether we will interrupt or be interrupted by others. We can call anyone we like at any moment; we can listen to songs without earphones and sing with them if we want; we can get up early if we’d like a morning jogging or we can stay in bed without being awoken when suffering from an illness; we can stay up late for an assignment or read a marvelous novel free from the worry that the light may cause complaints of those who want to sleep. Moreover, if we keep a certain distance with our friends, we can even keep a healthier relationship with them, for the fact that we will only have the fun of hanging out instead of arguing about who’s too noisy just over a family call.

To conclude, living in a private room is more suitable for us students in terms of privacy, a healthy relationship with classmates and a learning-friendly environment. Hence, if possible, I will choose to live in a room of my own without hesitation.