Loud sex or ice cream socials - dorm life is what you make of it

Arizona Daily Wildcat Mary Fan

Go with an honors hall to bypass these experiences, they advised.

And, not being one for frequent false fire alarms or vast unfriendly halls, I opted for Yuma Hall, an honors dorm home to a community of 144.

And I emphasize community. The most intense impression I have of life in my dorm is of community.

My most striking experience happened while I was in the bathroom during the early morning hour of one.

There, one of my wing mates spent hours giving me some of the most valuable insight on love and romance in college I have ever received.

There is hall government and the various chairs that keep our community buzzing with ice cream socials, interdorm intramurals, creative fund-raisers and weekly get-togethers.

And, of course, everyone is kept informed via highly engaging and creative hall government notes written by our hall secretary and posted in the bathrooms.

Really, the residents of any hall make the hall their own and their experience their own. For example, fine arts freshman Cory Howard of Coronado Residence Hall, the largest dorm on campus and I think, once ranked second or third most sexually active dorm in the nation, confirmed accounts of frequent fire alarms and a high level of audible sexual activity- and said he loved the life there.

Really, I think dorm life is what we make of it. It is an experiment in living semi-independently. We are creating our own space, on our way to our own place and learning to make the right choices and finding the best communities for us.

As for me, I feel Yuma Hall is the right fit.

Though I wonder, sometimes, if my love life wouldn't be a little better had I been assigned to a dorm like Coronado.