University of Arizona - Desert Yearbook (Tucson, AZ)

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„ No Air Conditioning?! Coming to the University of Arizona from a little town outside of Tucson I had some pretty great expectations about college and living on campus. Needless to say no air conditioning, brown lounge furniture, a study room smaller than my closet, and the sweet chirps of crickets to lull me to sleep had been absent from my earlier visions of dorm life. Yet the shocking truth lay waiting. So I brought every last possession from home to make this barren room a little less threatening and a little more muave. Adjusting to the decor was only one of many feats I was to endure. Living with 119 other girls would prove to be quite interesting. It was kind of like an extended summer camp. But looking back over the two years I spent in this somewhat communal lifestyle, the people are what I will remember the most. The friends I made didn ' t make the heat less hot or the crickets less noisier, but they made Papago Lodge a home. Although not every hall was adorned with the little luxuries of Pa pago, my encounters were not unlike those of the hundreds of students that chose to live on campus. Adjusting to new surroundings, independence, a roommate or roommates, and finding a sense of belonging are the common factors in living in a residence hall whether you have good lounge furniture or not. An experience like living in a dorm is a unique one. Where else can you have 2am fire drills, an answering service, people to help you at any hour of the night, AND be centrally located on campus. Residence halls are not for everyone but those who made the most of it found out how deceiving first impressions can be. • Kathie Anderson Pandemonium strikes! Victoria Knobel, Deborah Hebert, Tawny Buckley, and Zoey Price dance to the eerie sounds at the Hal- loween bash. Photo by Diana Johnson. Float construction began early for residents at Manzi-Mo, but thei dedication sure paid off. Photo by Greg Berg. Designated referee, Alan Kenoke inspects two competitors begin- ning handhold in an arm-wrestling contest held at Cochise. Photo by Greg Berg. RESIDENCE LIFE 225

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224 RESIDENCE LIFE

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The RHA executive board, headed by President Liz Bentzen, works to make living in a residence hall a more pleasant and eventful experience. , Photo by Brice Samuel. i R.H,A, isA.O.K, RHA a.k.a. Residence Hall Association alvvrays seemed to be this mystical force behind this huge curtain, kind of like in the Wizard of Oz. You ' d ask them for a new vacuum cleaner and BAM! there it was. You ' d want a couple of board games and ZAP! they would show up almost out of nowhere. Most of all they always had the inside scoop on just about everything going on around campus. I finally decided to go to an alleged RHA meeting to find out for myself. To my surprise it was an eye opening experience. There were updates on upcoming events, door prizes, cute guys, a tally on H.O.T.S points, and more information than the National Enquirer What impressed me the most was the amount of participation from the residents. The executive board ran the meetings but there was there was input from almost every representative. I quote the immortal words of RHA Rep Tawny Buckley, Go to the RHA meetings or I will pummel your face with my fist! If the sweet talk doesn ' t persuade you, nothing will. • Kathie Anderson RHA is an organization for and by the residents | dedicated to the improvement of campus life. ; Photo by Brice Samuel.