Western Kentucky University - Talisman Yearbook (Bowling Green, KY)

Page 22 text:

Dorms vs. apartments Whether on campus or off, a student’s home away from home may become either a haven or a headache side from the classes, homework and Ar friends, living away from home for the first time can be one of the most ex- citing and sometimes difficult, times that face college students. For students living in dorms, it meant sharing a 15-by-20 home away from home with a total stranger. For many students living in apart- ments, it meant paying the rent, telephone and electric bills. But no matter what mode of living students chose at college, there was always plenty of fun, frustration and surprises. “In the dorms you have to get used to things really quick — like public showers, bathrooms and people being around all the time,” Jeff Shirley, a Bardstown junior, said. A transfer student from Elizabethtown Com- munity College, Shirley moved into Pearce-Ford Tower at the beginning of the spring semester after spending three semesters in apartments. “It seems like the rooms are a lot smaller than they are in apartments,” he said. “‘But | spend a lot more time in the (university center) grill than | spend in my room.” Shirley said his decision to try dorm life was one of simple economics. “It was expensive,” he said. A hundred dollars a month for rent kind of threw me.”’ Along with the extra money, Shirley said dorm life gave him more opportunity to study and socialize. ‘| get a lot more news and see my friends more now that I’m on campus,” he said. “And | spend a lot more time in the library — it’s more accessible.” But Shirley said that living in a dorm also has its drawbacks. “Sometimes you wake up in the middle of the night to find someone playing around out in the hall, and in apartments you usually have a good refrigerator and stove. All |’ve got now is a little refrigerator, and the stove on our floor doesn’t work, so! can’t cook,” he said. Getting to class is easier from a dorm, Shirley said, even though he learned quickly not to wait for elevators. “| don’t use them very much, because around class time, they’re always packed full by the time they get to my floor,” he said. ‘‘It only hurts going up.” Shawn Cosman, a senior from Houston, Texas, moved back to the dorms after trying apartment life for a semester. The campus has a lot of hidden benefits that you don't really notice until they’re gone — like clean sheets every week,” he said. The Park Street apartment Cosman occupied in the fall semester came with plumbing and electrical problems, he said. “In a dorm, all that’s taken care of by the university. It’s hard to deal with maintenance problems when you're going to school,” he said. “| wanted to try it out (an apartment), and to get away from some of the problems of dorm life. But most of those problems, like noises, ex- penses and privacy go with you unless you can afford an apartment big enough so everyone can have their own space,”’ he said. And as far as school goes, Cosman said, get- ting there is half the fun when you live off cam- pus. ‘‘The way gas prices are going, | was spen- ding almost all my money just getting back and forth.” — Steve Lowry “Your friends both on and off campus are usually within walking distance from the university, so in a dorm, I can just park my car and leave it for a week at a time.” Cosman said although the problem of noisy neighbors is worse in dorms than in apart- ments, it’s also easier to solve. “Here you can just call the desk and somebody’!l do something about it. In an apart- ment, all you can do is call the landlord or police, if you want to wait a few days,” he said. Cosman’s room on the sixth floor of Barnes- Campbell featured posters of Linda Ronstadt and Ayatollah Khomeini (the latter as a target's bull's eye), as well as two neatly stacked pyramids of cans. One of the pyramids was empty beer cans; the other, unopened cans of Campbell's soup. “You can do just about anything you want in dorms as long as you don’t paint the walls orange or try to keep livestock up here,”’ he said. ‘‘It can be a problem working things out on open house night, depending on who you live with, but generally things go okay. “It's a big mistake to never live on campus — that’s how you meet a lot of people. | think it’s really good for freshmen to live in the dorms to find out what school’s all about,’’ Cosman said, ‘“‘but I also think it’s good to spend a semester in an apartment, just to see what life’s really like when you have to do for yourself.” One student who has lived off campus for continued on page 20 IN THE KITCHEN of Barnes-Campbell, Curtis Richie, a Louisville sophomore, scrambles eggs for his breakfast. Students will often cook in the dorm kitchen to save money. AFTER A RUGBY GAME, Barbara Barry serves pecan pie to members of the rugby team. By living off campus, she was able to get around the university's open house policy. POSTERS, PLANTS and a few fishnets remind Maree Kuhne, a graduate student from Horsham, Australia, of home. Kuhne was knitting in her compact Poland Hall room. — Mike Collins 18 Dorms vs apartments

Page 21 text:

Starting OVEF con. the summer sessions and the fall term. | needed another few weeks to unwind from summer classes. “But every time | went past Diddle (the site of graduation), | kept wishing | could speed time up,’’ she said. Fee payment in the Garrett Conference Center also signaled the beginning of school. “Paying fees was easy (this time),’’ Bunce said. “It seemed like there were a lot less people in the lines. | got through really quick.’’ As a senior, she registered in advance. David Link, a junior meteorology major from Goodlettsville, Tenn., remembered taking it easy the first week of school. “| mostly watched a lot of television and tried to figure out what books | needed,” he said. “Moving in is always such a pain; | need to rest up about a week afterwards.” But the summer weather made it hard for Link to spend much time inside. “It was so nice outside,”’ he said. “| had to get out and play some Frisbee. You can’t stay cooped up in the room all the time. You don’t meet anybody that way.” The best part about the first week of the fall semester was the friendliness of students trying to make new acquaintances — especially the women, Link said. “That first week, you just gotta find out who they are and where they’re from,”’ he said. LONG LINES in the bookstore caused Owensboro freshman Debbie Chandler to write her check on the back of freshman Tammy Price, also from Owensboro. Students sometimes waited as much as one hour to buy books. Wednesday night, as students prepared for classes the next day, another outdoor concert sponsored by UCB brought students to the fine arts center amphitheater. Dixie Line, a Southern rock band, entertained several hundred students with hits by the Allman Brothers and the Marshall Tucker Band. ; “That was a really good concert,” Link said. ‘| sat through one class that wasn't even mine. I knew it was wrong after the class started, but I was too scared to get up and walk out.’ — Anita Priddy “The music was great, and everybody in the crowd was having a good time. “On the last night of summer vacation, you Tre ready to let loose one last time,’’ he said. When the day came to start classes, halls were filled with students looking for the right classroom, carefully studying their schedules and running into old friends. But in the afternoon the flock of sunbathers — Jim Gensheimer A NIGHT CONCERT by Lodestar kept students entertained during the first week of school. The concert was sponsored by University Center Board. around McCormack Hall was only slightly lessened by the routine of the new semester. And in spite of all the last minute planning, some students discovered that finding the right room in the building wasn’t always as easy as it sounded. Hodgenville freshman Anita Priddy said she wished she had taken more time to go over her schedule. ‘‘I! sat through one class that wasn't even mine,”’ she said. ‘| knew it was wrong after the class started, but | was too scared to get up and walk out,” Priddy said. Priddy had waited until Wednesday night to move in, she said, because she was already familiar with Western’s campus. ‘| was lucky. I spent a lot of time down here with my older sister this summer, so | knew my way around,” she said. “‘But | guess | didn’t know my way around my schedule too well there at first.”’ Perhaps Bardstown junior Jeff Shirley pur- sued one of the most popular activities of col- lege life. “I spent the whole time down at Mr. D's (a local restaurant),”’ he said. “| didn’t get a whole lot done,”’ Shirley said. “But | met a lot of people.” Fred Wheeler PROPPED UP ON ONE LEG, Susan Flock, a senior from Bowling Green, finds an uncrowded area in front of the university center to fill out registration forms. She didn't preregister in the spring, so she was registering when she returned to school. Todd Buchanan 17 First week

Page 23 text:

— Steve Lowry 19 Dorms vs apartments