Natalie’s Campus Experience

I was a resident in Hawk Hall my freshman year, but after on became a commuter.  I was very excited to move into the newest residential hall and hopefully make some friends.  Most things in Hawk Hall were nice.  The bathrooms had nice tiles, the thermostats worked for the most part, and the super singles seemed spacious. 

There was a brief period in that October where the air conditioning had been shut off, and the heating had been turned on.  Unfortunately, it was around 80 degrees outside and very humid.  Everyone was miserable, people woke up sweating or unable to breathe due to heat exhaustion, and some people got migraines.  The whole floor wrote a letter to public safety and called numerous times asking them if there was anything that could be done about it, but they basically told us to grit our teeth and bear it.  Luckily, the temperature dropped 30 degrees after that week.

Another strange occurrence in Hawk Hall resulted in a bat flying down the hallway.  Crazy, right?  My friend and I were up at about 1:00 AM doing our homework.  We heard some shuffling in the vents above us and suspected that either there was a mouse, or we were hallucinating.  After some deduction, we figured out that there was a mouse or maybe two and called public safety.  Once an exterminator arrives, a bat flies down the hallway, and my friend and I brace the wall like our lives depend on it.  The exterminator sighs, “You’ve got to be kidding me.”  The exterminator took care of the bat, somehow. 

Parking is a whole different story.  I must park every day, due to the commuter status.  In the past year, I have gotten 3 tickets for parking in the wrong spot. I was not made aware of which places were available exclusive for me to park until after the tickets.  The most recent time I got a ticket, I had been parking in the same place for the past 3 days.  Then come one day, when I had nowhere else to park for an 8:30 class I was already late for.  Fortunately, I wrote an apologetic appeal and did not have to waste my money.  Just when I thought my thousands of dollars for tuition, food, service fees, classes, registration, and hidden fees were not enough, the extra $100 did not help.